(http://fmi.gov.ng/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/paralympics21-300x194.jpg) To ensure that President Jonathan's vision of making Nigeria one of the greatest sporting nations on earth, the National Sports Commission (NSC) is creating a High Performance Sports Directorate (HPSD) that will develop and manage elite athletes' programme for Nigeria's participation in international competitions especially the Olympics and Paralympics.
Disclosing this while briefing the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on the performance and challenges of sports in the Transformation Agenda of president Goodluck Jonathan, 3rd April, 2013, the Minister of Sports, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi said that the National Sports Commission (NSC) has designed a framework for the HPSD and commenced the process of engaging world-class experts to fill the position as part of ongoing initiatives with the Office of the Co-ordinating Minister of the Economy (CME).
According to the Minister, the High Performance Sports Directorate structure will be made up of a High Performance Director at the top with Directors of Wrestling, Boxing, Weightlifting, Shooting and Track and Field below him.
There will also be three (3) national coaches each for Wrestling, Boxing, Weightlifting and Shooting.
Track and Field will also have coaches for the jumps, middle and long distances and the sprints.
According to the administrative structure of the HPSD, the coaches will report to the Directors who will report to the High Performance Director.
Funding of the Directorate according to the Minister will be from a dedicated fund for high performance sports development for individuals, coaches and managers.
He further revealed that the National Sports Commission has established a funding strategy to guide the disbursement of funds across the various sports and to shift focus from funding Sports Federations to funding sporting activities.
This, he said will ensure efficient and creative application of resources; performance-driven funding and competitive disbursement of funds.
Under the new arrangement, there will be three (3) funds.
One is made up of funds dedicated to promoting sporting activities at the grassroots level and to stimulate mass participation in sports, especially among school age children through facilitation of Sports Clubs.
The other, is made up of funds to support elite athlete development through the Federations of Olympic sports.
The third is that dedicated to high performance sports development for individual athletes, coaches and managers.
Towards achieving this, the Minister said that the NSC is working with the Office of the Co-ordinating Minister of the Economy and GT Bank to develop a framework for a sustainable private-sector-driven sports development fund that explores opportunities in lottery and additional tax on some luxury goods such as tobacco and alcohol.
Via: Federal Ministry of Information (FMI) Nigeria
That is a very good move from them. The performances from every sportman must improve. That has to happen