By: Abdulwaheed Olayinka Adubi
Kaduna, northwestern Nigeria—The Chairman of National Sports Commission (NSC), Shehu Dikko, has reiterated the Commission’s commitment towards refurbishing and upscaling the sports facilities in Nigeria.
“We are vigorously working to refurbish and upscale our sporting facilities. Infact that’s the reason I am out of the country now, meeting with strategic partners that would help us deliver this ambition within the best international framework and standards,” Dikko said.
The Chairman of the Commission asserted this when he virtually declared open the National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA) Executive Commitee (EXCO) meeting in Abuja recently.
Dikko seized the opportunity to reecho the ongoing sports reforms in Nigerian sports.
His words, “We have set up the Renewed Hope Initiative for Nigerian Sports Economy (RHINSE) programme with three pillars which aims to Reset, Refocus and Relaunch Nigerian sports.
“We are doing things differently now and taking the road less traveled as there is now more emphasis on domestic development of the sports rather than the international tournaments participation. We are fully seeking to harness the potentials of the sports economy and put our sports among the key drivers of the socio-economic development.”
While speaking at the meeting, Dikko solicited ANOCA’s support in ensuring that Nigeria is giving the rights to host as many international competitions as possible across all sports.
“The plan is to host as many international tournaments as we can so as to keep our facilities busy, open up our country and indeed a foundation for our domestic sports development. So our doors are open to host these tournaments and we will need the support of ANOCA to secure the hosting rights”, NSC Chairman added.
