By; JACOB ONJEWU DICKSON
The Ministry of Youth and Sports is seeking support and partnership from stakeholders in the sports industry especially the Corporate Nigeria.
According to statement signed by his SA Media, Nneka Ikem Anibeze, the Minister, Barrister Solomon Dalung made this known when he visited SuperSport Studios in Lagos to solicit their co-operation for the forth coming National Youth Games billed for September 22 to 30, 2016.
On the occasion, Barrister Dalung thanked SuperSport for their continued contribution toward the development of sports in Nigeria.
He noted that the the industry had enjoyed a seamless relationship with SuperSport and the impact of the relationship could be attested to by Nigerians.
“We believe that you should be part of everything we do and continue to contribute to sports not only in supporting us but also in promoting whatever ideas we have and advising us where necessary because of your wealth of experience and nurturing it to success”.
Barrister Dalung said that the concept of the Youth Games is intended at getting young talents. He however regretted the frustration in trying to achieve the dream.
“This dream has been frustrated either by political activities or lack of funds. It is fundamental to the performance of Nigeria in international competitions because if you don’t develop your reservoir of talents, then whatever you are boasting of today is subject to depletion. Some of the athletes we took to Rio have been recycled for too long and that is an indictment on a country like Nigeria with a population of 80 million youths. So we think we should go back to resuscitate the National Youth Games and harvest our talents, develop them, prepare our future Olympic materials and reposition ourselves to probably give the world a proper contest in terms of games.
“We cannot achieve this without your robust support and co-operation because you are key actors and partners in sports development and we must take you along. We are not just coming for morale support and promotion because you have been doing all these. We want you to be actively involved in driving the entire concept to success” Dalung stated.
The minister later decorated the General Manager Strategy, West Africa, Felix Awogu with a medal, a personalized muffler, head and wrist bands to show appreciation to SuperSport as good sports ambassadors and for its unrivaled contribution to sports development in the country.
Responding, Awogu thanked the Minister for the honour given to SuperSport and recalled SuperSports early production of the Nigerian league 9 years ago with the NTA.
“Since then, we have been consistent with the production of the Nigerian league. We are happy today that you’ve brought up the idea of the National Youth Games because we believe that the future of Nigeria lies in the youths. We will in the little way we can, through publicity and otherwise support this project”.
