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Group urges Buhari to appoint minister that will implement change agenda

By Editor
05 October 2015   |   11:42 pm
AS the House of Senate begins the screening of ministerial nominees today, Kaduna-based Progressive Vanguard has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) to appoint a Sports Minister that will implement the party’s change agenda in the sports sector. Speaking to newsmen in Kaduna, the group’s Secretary General, Haruna Ibrahim, dismissed…
Sports

Sports

AS the House of Senate begins the screening of ministerial nominees today, Kaduna-based Progressive Vanguard has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) to appoint a Sports Minister that will implement the party’s change agenda in the sports sector.

Speaking to newsmen in Kaduna, the group’s Secretary General, Haruna Ibrahim, dismissed those calling for the non-appointment of a Minister of Sports as outsiders, who are not privy to the level of rot in the sector or self-seekers, who want the status quo maintained.

“President Buhari must not set a bad precedent by not appointing a Sports Minister; the decision will also jeopardize the revival of the now moribund industry.

“Our industry is comatose, we need a tripartite marriage between the Ministries of Education, Youths and Sports to revive the industry. If we don’t have a Minister of Sports, that means there won’t be cabinet representation for sports, thus there won’t be interaction between Ministers of Youth and Education, which are crucial to the revival of the sports industry.’’

The Progressive Vanguard urged President Buhari not to be deceived by the second placing of Team Nigeria at the just concluded African Games to think all is well with our sports.

According to Ibrahim: “The Africa Games as it is today is a developmental programme and Nigeria is just one of the few countries that take it seriously, most sporting nations in Africa like South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia and others send their young athletes. If the government is in doubt, they should just check the world ranking of athletes that won medals in Congo vis-à-vis their counterparts in other parts of the world, most of our medalists are not in the top 50 in the world.’’

Ibrahim recalled that “apart from a brief period under former President Goodluck Jonathan when concerted efforts were made to revive our sports which was aborted because of politics, sports has been dead in Nigeria in the last ten years.’’

The group also noted that as a government that prides itself on obeying the rule of law, not appointing a minister for a ministry and asking a Director General to run a non-existing National Sports Commission (NSC) will be like backing illegality.

“The NSC does not exist under the Nigerian law. And eventually, if we have a legally established NSC, it will not be run by a director general, but by an executive chairman with a board of directors. Having a minister and a director general as we have had the last few years is aberration because the structure we have in sports is the structure that we have in other ministries, so what we need going forward is a Minister of Sports, and a Permanent Secretary and directors.’’
They urged President Buhari to appoint a sports minister who is familiar with the terrain, who also has a strong personality and good leadership skills.

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