NAN-S-7
Reforms
By Dorcas Jonah
Abuja, Aug. 28, 2017 (NAN) The Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung, has attributed Nigeria’s outstanding performance in basketball and wrestling to the ongoing reforms in the sector.
Dalung made the assertion on Monday in Abuja while congratulating the victorious D’Tigress that won the 2017 Women Afrobasket Championship in Bamako, Mali on Sunday.
The minister also congratulated the Nigerian wrestlers’ performance in the World Championships in France.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that D’Tigress won all their matches at the competition and secured a ticket to the 2018 World Cup in Spain.
NAN reports that the wrestlers also won a silver medal in the 55kg, reached a bronze medal match in the 63kg and also the quarter-finals in the Women’s 58kg but could not go through.
“We congratulate DTigress, the technical crew and the entire management of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBF) for winning the 2017 FIBA Women’s Afrobasket trophy.
“You have not only broke a 12 year-old draught, but won a ticket to the 2018 World Cup.
“This cannot be ascribed to luck but to weeks of hard work, planning and strategising by the board, technical crew and the players.
“We also applaud the wrestlers for winning silver at the World Championships,’’ he said a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Nneka Ikem-Anibuze.
Dalung said the players and wrestlers truly exemplified the true Nigerian spirit which always thrives in the face of adversity.
He praised the team for making Nigeria proud, adding that their victory was not by chance but a result of well-articulated programmes by the NBBF and NWF boards.
“We are aware of the fact that the road to becoming the African Champions and booking a ticket to the World Cup was never easy.
“The Federal Government salutes these brave girls who have written Nigeria’s name on the global map once again after 12 years,’’ he said.
The minister said that having started the due process of electing popular and passionate candidates into boards of the federations, Nigeria’s sports would be better for it.
“These successes we are recording are the products of the reforms. If you look at what is happening now, every sport has been gingered up.
“This has been exemplified by the zeal and commitment of the new federations’ leadership,’’ he said.
He assured that the team would be presented to His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari at a date to be announced soon.
Dalung said that the ministry under his watch would continue to make policies to encourage private investments through transparent and committed leadership.
He said that if stakeholders with the passion to grow sports were in charge of running the federations, the administrative structures of sports in Nigeria would be reconstructed for the benefit of sports development. The ministry will officially receive the victorious D’Tigress in the Minister’s Conference Room, Federal Secretariat on Tuesday. (NAN)
DE/KOLE/PDE
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(Edited by Remi Koleoso/Peter Ejiofor)