Kano government pledges support for sports performance reward fund 

The Kano State government has promised to ‘support and partner’ with the Sports Performance Reward Fund (SPRF) to achieve its objective of raising N10 billion to motivate Nigerian youth to global excellence in sports and making them rich and famous.

In an hour-long meeting, Alhaji Shehu Wada Sagagi, who is the Chief of Staff to Kano State Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf, said the state government understood and identified with the vision of the SPRF and, therefore, would use sports as a vehicle to engage and empower ‘our youth’ in Kano.

He said: “We in Kano appreciate sports as a huge business that our youth can benefit a lot from and we have a lot of talent in football, boxing and athletics, especially the long distances, where we have boys and girls with a lot of stamina, brave boys who will do well in boxing and wrestling.

“We would therefore like to support and partner with the SPRF with the capacity you have, to set up academies in the major sports.”

The Chief of Staff, who was accompanied by Alhaji Aminu Shuaibu Rabo, Permanent Secretary Policy and Administration Directorate, added: “We have a young and vibrant Commissioner of Sports, who is only 40 years old, and we could do a lot for our young boys and girls through sports.”

In its response, the SPRF, represented by BoT member, Alhaji Datti Yussuf and Executive Secretary, Godwin Kienka, thanked the Kano State government for being the first to host the SPRF and promised that the Kano State Government would always have a pride of place in the history of the SPRF.

“It shows that the Kano State government is a truly progressive government with the interest of the youth at heart and we hope that other states will follow Kano’s lead. The SPRF will be glad to work with you in your sports development effort to make Kano State one of the major sports hubs in Nigeria,” Kienka, who spoke on behalf of the SPRF, said.
The SPRF was set up by reputable and eminent private sector persons to raise N10 billion to warehouse as reward for podium performances at the Olympics, Commonwealth and African Games, as well as other major world championships.

In the project intends to reward every Olympic gold medallist with N10 million, while silver and bronze medallists will get N7.5 million and N5 million respectively. For every gold medal at the Commonwealth Games, the winner will get N5 million, just as the silver and bronze medallists will get N3 million and N2 million respectively.

For the Africa Games and selected World Championships, a gold medals will attract N3 million, N2 million will go for a silver medal and each bronze medal will attract N1 million.

The SPRF has Dr Ahmadu Musa Kida as President, Odein Henry Ajumogobia as Vice President National and Government, Dr Wale Sulaiman, as Vice President (Diaspora) and Ifueko Omogui Okauru as Vice President Finance.