New Sports Minister inspects Abuja National Stadium facilities, assures adequate performance in looming games.

National Sports Commission Reports

The newly appointed Minister of Sports and Chairman of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Tamuno Danagogo has said that his appointment as Nigeria’s Sports Minister few months to the World Cup in Brazil would not have any negative impact on the nation’s performance at the games.

The Minister made this assertion on Thursday 6th March, 2014 at the Abuja National Stadium during his familiarization tour of the facilities and venues at the Stadium Complex.

In his response to questions from journalists, Tamuno Danagogo revealed that his plan was to give equal priority to all sports and to avoid the pitfall of offering too much attention to any particular sport at the detriment of others.

He lamented the situation where Sports Ministers’ performances in the office are often judged by the country’s performance in football alone, irrespective of their successes in other sports activities; a situation he said has caused many past Ministers to concentrate and channel all their energies to football.

Speaking on his impression on the state of the facilities he inspected, the Minister expressed satisfaction with the position of most of the facilities, saying they can favourably compete with most modern stadia around the world. He also observed that most of the facilities are not being put to use, a situation which he said can lead to rot and decay.

He further enjoined the media, whom he described as critical stakeholders in sports to sensitize the populace on the need to develop the blueprints that would ensure that government’s huge investments in sports do not go down the drain.

The Minister was taken round the facilities and venues by the Director-General of the NSC, Gbenga Elegbeleye in the company of the Director of Facilities and Stadia Management, Shehu Ibrahim.

Some of the facilities and venues visited by the Minister include: the main bowl of the Abuja National Stadium, the soon to be commissioned High Performance Athletics Hostel, the Swimming Pools, Indoor Sports and the National Institute of Sports among others.