NAN-S-16
Sports
By Ja’afar Inde/Dorcas Jonah
Abuja, Feb. 2, 2017 (NAN) The Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Disability Matters, Samuel Ankeli, on Thursday challenged para-sports athletes and officials to target 40 gold medals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Ankeli gave the challenge at the inauguration of a seven-member Nigeria Para-Sports Development Fund Committee in Abuja.
He said with adequate preparations the athletes could achieve much more.
“We have all the needed skills which can make us win more than 40 gold medals. All we need is early preparation, comportment and self-confidence,’’ Ankeli said.
He said the project was a private sector initiative to muster funds to institutionalise both sports and agricultural development in the disability sector in Nigeria.
“This committee shall have a three-year tenure to mobilise and drive development and report back to the Board of Trustees of the Nigeria Sports Development Fund Inc. (NSDFI) and the Federal Government,’’ Ankeli said.
Earlier, Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Chairman, Board of Trustees of NSDFI, said between his board and the Nigeria Para-Sports Development Fund they would raise N25 billion in one year.
“We can create in excess of three million jobs in low, middle and senior management level.
“We are looking at the six National Sports Development Centres and the 90 elite athletes to prepare them especially for a minimum of 10 medals at Tokyo 2020,’’ he said.
Iwuanyanwu urged the committee members to put in their best to achieve this target and bring glory to Nigeria.
While responding on behalf of the committee, chairman of the Nigeria Para-Sports Development Fund Committee, Mike Omotosho, said the committee would put in its best to achieve the target.
“We shall as a team, work hard and if it means going cap in hand to beg for the needful resources to make this vision a massive success, we shall.
“We will engage members of the media to help communicate our vision and also keep us accountable, because this is a social change we must all commit to,’’ he said.
Omotosho said the committee would also go outside the shores of Nigeria to mobilise funds, adding “we shall bring a new support structure to all athletes in para-sports’’.(NAN)
JL/DE/OLAL
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(Edited by Olawale Alabi)