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Minister commissions ANOCA secretariat as government domesticates anti-doping bill

The Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr. Sunday Dare broke a 10-year jinx when he led an international delegation with the President of the International Olympics Committee (IOC), Dr. Thomas Bach...

The Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr. Sunday Dare broke a 10-year jinx when he led an international delegation with the President of the International Olympics Committee (IOC), Dr. Thomas Bach to commission the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA) secretariat yesterday.

The development effectively makes Abuja the Olympics City for Africa, according to the IOC President. The Minister described the event as  “a landmark in the development of sports on the continent of Africa. It is a day that the entire black race should be proud of. And as Nigerians, we are proud to be a major contributor to the actualization of this day.”

Aside the commissioning of the building that would be the administrative and technical hub of sports administration on the continent, the minister also acknowledged, “we also have in our midst, the leaders of the world governing body for sports, ably led by the President of the International Olympic Committee, Dr. Thomas Bach.”

He went through memorial lane to point out how Nigeria won the bid 13 years in Kenya, adding, “With the selection and signing of the Headquarters Cooperation Agreement on February 21, 2007, the ANOCA secretariat, hitherto in Yaoundé, Cameroun, was moved to Abuja, Nigeria.”

The Minister, who earlier conducted the IOC delegation around the MKO Abiola Stadium, revealed that “After 10 years of trying to get approval for the domestication of the anti-doping bill, the Federal Executive Council yesterday approved the domestication of that convention, that is historic.”

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