The federal government has expressed its determination to continue to collaborate with the corporate and private sector organisations to unlock economic potentials of sports in the country.
The minister of sports development, Senator John Owan Enoh, gave the assurance when he met with the members of the Dream Sports Africa led by its country director, Mr Michael Anejo in Abuja.
Senator Enoh, in a press statement signed by Muhammed Manga, director of press and public relations, Federal Ministry of Sports Development, said the new vision and thinking of the government under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is that sports is seen as both recreation and business. This, he said, was the right approach to jumpstart the desired transformation of sports in our country.
According to him, with the new vision of government, the Federal Ministry of Sports Development under his watch, will continue to keep its door open to collaboration with relevant stakeholders, private sector investors, the civil society organisations as well as the global sports community in order to join hands with the government in its effort to fully unlock the economic potentials of sports in Nigeria and in the process, unleash one of the most consequential transformations of the 21st century.
The Minister stated further that sports has a great potential for wealth creation, employment generation, poverty alleviation, social inclusivity
and the ability to make substantial contributions to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Senator Owan Enoh noted that private sector organisations have a critical role to play in unlocking these opportunities but that this huge potential has been squandered due to inaction and missed priorities.
He called on the private sector investors and major players in the industry to take advantage of the incentives put in place by the current administration to invest massively in the development of sports in Nigeria.
Earlier, the director, Dream Sports Africa, Mr Michael Anejo, thanked the Minister for accepting to meet with the organisation to discuss likely areas of collaboration that will drive Sports Development across the country in spite of his busy schedule.
He assured that his organisation will go back to the drawing board and identify critical areas it needs to partner with the Ministry and the Federal Government in its effort at ensuring the realization of the policy objectives of the present administration as it relates to sports development in line with global realities.
