National Sports Commission (NSC) chairman, Mallam Shehu Dikko has disclosed that a major focus under his tenure at the helm of affairs in the sector is to ensure that infrastructure across the country is fixed and put in proper shape.
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Sports247 reports that Dikko further pointed out that the emergence of the NSC in place of the erstwhile Ministry of Sports has made it possible for Nigeria to tackle the issue of facilities frontally, professionally and effectively.
Dikko made this known when he received the ambassador of Qatar, Yousef Mohammed Ahmed Al-Hail in Abuja and they held a meeting aimed at fostering sporting collaborations between Nigeria and the Middle nation.
Dikko pointed out that the meeting was also an off shoot of pronouncements made by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu during a state visit to Qatar in March 2024, when a long list of agreements was reached with the country’s government.
He added that President Tinubu’s visit was aimed at strengthening economic ties between both nations, including agreements in sports, youth development, education, tourism, business events and regulations in employment of workers.
The NSC’s boss asserted that Friday’s meeting with the Qatar ambassador was in furtherance of the cooperative agreement between both countries, for collaboration that will benefit Nigerian and Qatari teams as well as boost sports infrastructure.
Dikko added, “There has to be proper and sustainable cooperation between Nigeria and Qatar in sports. Already President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR had signed an MoU to this effect when he visited Qatar in 2024.
“We are only trying to add flesh to that agreement and put together activities to activate the MoU to the benefit of both countries. The President is very deliberate about using sports as a tool to advance social and economic development.
“Hence he set up National Sports Commission so that we can harness the potentials of sports economy. To this effect he has declared sports as a national asset. We now calculate how much sports can contribute to the GDP of the nation.
“We want to create more sporting jobs and we are targeting about two million direct, indirect and induced jobs. There is a lot that we can learn from Qatar with regard to sports, especially on infrastructure development as key foundation.
“We want to fix our sporting infrastructure because it is the basis of all we are doing. Qatar had done it before by putting together the best sporting facilities to host the last World Cup and indeed several other world class sports infrastructures.
“We are happy to work together to deliver this mandate through cross-fertilization of ideas and committed to the partnership in line to the Renewed Hope and Shared prosperity vision of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the RHINSE framework.”
