From Taofiq Jimoh Adeniyi, Ilorin
The Federal Government has reaffirmed that, to achieve the goals and objectives of the National Youth Games (NYG) which among others, is to discover and develop young athletes, the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development will introduce the Camping System of nurturing the skills of young athletes to attain national aspirations for youth and sports development.
The Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare gave this policy direction at a media interactive session at the University of Ilorin during the just concluded 5th NYG.
While pouring encomiums on the philosophy and vision behind the NYG, Dare opined that the Games is a renaissance of real grassroots sports development in the country, adding, it is the deliberate plan of the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development to turn over the discovered talents of the Games to the Federations for subsequent and proper management through the Camping System.
Recalling the earlier meeting he had with the State Directors of Sports, the Minister praised their collaborative efforts, stressing that without them, the Games would not have been possible.
The Minister, in line with the Federal Government’s avowed policy of taking Youth and Sports Development to a transformative level, proclaimed that he would have another productive interactive meeting with the State Directors of Sports, to know their challenges.
He promised to present their recommendations on how to improve grassroots sports development to the National Economic Council on their behalf as the Federal Minister of Youth and Sports Development.
Also, Dare said the Ministry will in collaboration with the states, strive to improve the capacity of coaches through enhanced capacity building programme to achieve our vision and objective for high performance in athletics generally.
In the course of acknowledging the state and condition of facilities in our stadia across the country, the Minister reaffirmed that the administration of Presidential Muhammadu Buhari GCFR, is committed to increase the ante for effective management and upgrade of facilities in our Stadia.
