(http://fmi.gov.ng/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/min-of-sport-300x224.jpg) The Minister of sports/Chairman National Sports Commission, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi has expressed the Federal Government's unwavering support for the sports sector.
The Minister made this declaration while presenting the achievements of his Ministry at the on-going Ministerial Platform organized by the Federal Ministry of Information.
The Minister said, "The new vision for sports development at the grassroots is focused on the early commencement of search and discovery in order to produce future high performance talents. The average age for this initiative is put at between 8 – 12 years". According to the Minister, this would be achieved through Nigeria Academicals Sports Committee (NASCOM) which is a flagship vehicle for the National Sports Commission (NSC) for grassroots sports development.
The Minister reaffirm that at the 2012 Senior African Athletics Championship in Port Novo, where Nigeria emerged overall winner after 14 years with 10 Gold, 6 Silver, and 5 Bronze did not come as a surprise but owing to the transformation agenda of President Jonathan as applied to the sports sector.
He further stated that at the London 2012 Paralympics game, Nigeria sets three world records in power-lifting, posting Nigeria's second best performance ever in the history of Paralympic games; and all these happened in the last two years of this administration.
President Jonathan's vision for sports, the Minister reviewed, "was for us to become the best sporting nation in Africa; be among the top four sporting nations in the commonwealth; and ultimately rule the world. This vision is not only realistic; it is also achievable with hard work, greater sense of purpose and dedication"; the Minister said.
The Minister added that, "the essence of transformation agenda for sports is to develop systems and processes that will turn our achievements in sports over the years, into a national culture of excellence; in line with Mr. President's vision of making Nigeria one of the greatest sporting nations on earth."
Via: Federal Ministry of Information (FMI) Nigeria
Sport isn't developed in Nigeria at all that is why we sometimes do not do well in competitions. We need to start doing that.