The Federal Government has promised to revive the Nigeria University Games Association (NUGA) to serve as a breeding ground for the nation’s future athletes. The government also plans to establish a marketing board to enhance public/private sector partnerships.

Speaking while hosting top officials of the Nigerian University Games Association (NUGA), led by its President, Bawa Mohammed, in his Abuja office, yesterday, the Chairman of the National Sports Commission (NSC) Shehu Dikko, said that the NSC intends to create a marketing board that would help sports federations to secure private sector support and address their funding issues.

Dikko emphasised that collaboration with key stakeholders like NUGA would give him the required leverage to rejuvenate primary and secondary school sports in line with his vision of laying a solid foundation for sports development from the grassroots.

He added that part of the plan for the revival of NUGA is to establish centres of excellence in six universities across Nigeria’s six geo-political zones, providing the necessary infrastructure and support for student-athletes.

He said: “The NSC will equip the selected universities with the basic requirements in terms of infrastructure and other equipment to breed and groom our future athletes.

“The commission aims to treat sports as a national asset, and as such, it would lay more emphasis on athlete development, setting the right structure and framework to ensure a solid sports economy, over and above immediate competition results.”

Earlier, the NSC’s Director of Information and Public Relations, Mrs. Kehinde Ajayi, urged sports federations to strive to demonstrate an appreciable level of developmental progress before participating in international tournaments.

He also urged NUGA to come up with a detailed partnership proposal with the commission, outlining its plans and objectives in alignment with the commission’s vision.

Also speaking during the visit, NUGA President, Bawa Mohammed, congratulated Dikko on his new role, and expressed the association’s desire for collaboration, noting that both organisations share common visions.

He explained that the two organisations share common visions while expressing his belief that most of NUGA’s aspirations would find expression in the commission’s set objectives.

He expressed the hope that the proposed collaboration would work towards producing talented athletes for the country, highlighting that 35 percent of medals at the recent Olympics were won by university students globally.