Minister tasks federations to fast track sports development

Sen. John Owan-Enoh, Minister of Sports Development has called on the leadership of the sports federations in the country, to show more commitment to improving their respective federations.

The minister stated this on Tuesday in Abuja at a meeting with sports federations’ presidents and secretaries.

He said the ministry will continue to play it’s supervisory roles to push the over 33 sports federations to success, and constantly put Nigeria on the sporting map.

“We as a ministry need to show more commitment, focus and passion to succeed.

“We do not want federation presidents who are not committed or are only there to protect their interests, we need the commitment of the leadership of all the federations.

“This meeting will be periodical henceforth. Its essence is to evaluate what progress we are making as a country in the sports sector both locally and internationally,” he said.

Enoh said there was a need for the ministry and the federations to work more closely while setting achievable targets.

“It is a new beginning in the sports sector, therefore, we must as a sector, set achievable targets for ourselves.

“We will be having periodic review meetings to get feedback from the federations in terms of funds needed to prosecute competitions.

“We need to reposition this sector to achieve what we want to achieve, we are ready to collaborate with the federations to succeed,” he said.

It was reported that the Federation presidents at the meeting, pledged more commitment to repositioning their respective sport while calling for more funding.