Honourable Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr. Sunday Dare has been conferred with Sarkin Wasanni (King/Leader of Games) title by the Emir of Daura, Dr Umar Farouk Umar CON, on the 22nd December 2022.

The traditional title is in recognition of his outstanding contribution to Nation building through grassroots Sports Development.

According to Emir of Daura, Dr Farouk Umar, “your hardwork in Sporting world can never go unnoticed. We do recognise hardwork and thanks for giving Daura Mini Stadium a new look, which has drawn many sons of the soil to watch local football.

“We followed your track records in Sports and youth Development. It is quite worthy of note”, His Royal highness spoke in Hausa language.

According to the Honourable Minister of Youth and Sports Development, the New Sarkin Wasanni spoke with great emotions. He appreciated the President of the country, President Muhammadu Buhari who gave him the opportunity to serve his fatherland, which has brought recognition of hard work.

“I want to sincerely thank the Emir of Daura, Dr Farouk Umar for the title of Sarkin Wasanni, that can only encourage me to do more for Youth and Sports Development.

“The atmosphere in Daura for me, signposts for excellence should come in first, in whatever we do”, Mr. Sunday Dare concluded.

In a colourful ceremony that saw great captains of different industries in attendance, to mention few are two Ministers who were conferred with the Royal honour; Hon. Sunday Dare and Minister of Petroleum, Hon. Timipre Silva.

Also, who is who in football fraternity stormed Daura. The likes of Permanent Secretary of Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, Mallam Ismaila Abubakar, Chairman Taskforce of age grade National teams Alhaji Kurfi Aminu Balele, Special Assistant to the President Daniel Amokachi, NFF President Alhaji Ibrahim Gusua, NFF board member Alhaji Sherrif Inuwa.

Presenting the achievements today during the International Press Briefing held at the National Press Centre, Abuja, Dare stated that his Ministry has
the mandate to promote the physical, mental and socio- economic development of the youth, constituting the largest demographic composition representing 65% of our population.

He stated that, under the present Administration, the Sports and Youth sector has witnessed tremendous turn around through the implementation of well-thought out initiatives, programmes and policies targeted not only at empowering our youth but also moving sports away from mere recreation to business. This he said, was with a view to contributing to the socio-economic development of the country.

While describing the youth as the strength and future of our nation, Dare observed that “fixing them is fixing the country” and that was why he added, that the present Administration embarked on empowering them through the acquisition of various skills to make them enterpreneurial, employable as well as employers of labour. Stating further that so far, a total of 432,812 youth have benefited from the various training programmes which
include Cyber Security, Web Development, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Coding, among others

This, he noted, became realisable through its Digital Skills Acquisition, Enterpreneurship, Employability, Leadership and Mentorship (DEEL) programme in collaboration with other development partners.

The Minister explained that, in order to provide access to funds to empower the teeming Nigerian Youth, the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Administration committed N75 billion to National Youth Investment Fund (NYIF). Of this amount he said, 26,000 applicants have so far accessed N10bn out of the fund while the next trench of N10bn is slated for disbursement in January 2023.

He said that the present Administration also boosted the commitment of graduates during the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), through the increment of their allowances from N19,800 to N33,000 from January 2020.

On the Sports Sector, Dare informed that, it has also witnessed a massive face-lift through its Initiatives/Projects such as Adopt-an-Athlete, Pitch, Sports, Talent Hunt Programme as well as Welfare Fund for Athletes which had led to various sponsorship opportunities for them, thus leading to the numerous medals being harvested in different competitions within and outside the country.

He noted that the Administration was able to revive the National Principals’ Cup, OSOM Games, National Youth Games as well as the National Sports Festival which is a forum for the discovery of talents.

The Minister emphasised that, the present Administration, in recognition of the sterling performance of our athletes at the Commonweath Games hosted them to a Presidential Reception and gifted them a cash award of Two hundred million naira, including National Honours.

Earlier in his opening remarks, the Honourable Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed stated that the event which was launched on October 19, 2022 is the 14th Edition in the Administration’s Scorecard Series

He stated that the programme was organised by the Ministry to avail the public of the numerous achievements recorded by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government since the inception of the present Administration till date.

Signed
Mohammed Manga
Director, Press and Public Relations
December 20, 2021

The historic event, which will hold at the Emir’s palace in Daura, is expected to attract people from all walks of life including top government functionaries, politicians, the diplomatic community and the organised private sector.

Recognising the achievements and contributions of the Minister to nationhood through grassroots sports development, the honour will inspire Dare to sustain his remarkable legacies and good deeds in all facets of life.

Dare, who had received numerous awards both locally and internationally for his outstanding accomplishments in grassroots sports and youth development is respected for being a detribalised Nigerian who has continually built and sustained relationships across the nooks and crannies of Nigeria.

As part of efforts made to ensure the provision of new sports facilities and the rehabilitation of dilapidated ones across the country, the Minister recently refurbished the Daura township stadium in Daura, Katsina State.

The Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja was rehabilitated last year through the Adopt a Pitch initiative in collaboration with the Dangote Group. The National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos is also at an advanced stage of such rehabilitation.

Incentives for Private Sector Outlined in Document

The Federal Executive Council has approved the National Sports Industry Policy(NSIP) proposed to it by the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development.

This approval was given during its meeting on Wednesday, bringing to a positive end the efforts of the Sports Ministry under the headship of Minister Sunday Dare to get the policy document in place for the administration of sports in the country.

Some of the approved incentives as outlined in the policy document include;

A) Tax exemption and rebate for a period of 5 years for investors in the value chain of sports.

B) Land provision and waiver for certain fees on lands meant for sports.

C) Single digit loan interest rates for corporate organisations and private individuals investing in the sports value chain.

D) Independent Government Grant through the establishment of an Independent Athletes Welfare Fund(AWF)from which athletes representing the country can draw support for education and training.

E) Application of the Renovate Operate Transfer(ROT), Build Operate and Transfer(BOT), Integrated National Financial Framework(INFF), Nigeria Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan(NIIMP) or any other innovative PPP financing model for the provision, rehabilitation of sports facilities in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning.

F) Full operationalisation and enforcement of the sports Code of Governance.

The Policy outlines an effective means of improving the funding of sports, delineating the obligations of the different tiers of government, the participation of the private sector and other stakeholders in sports.

The thrust areas of the National Sports Industry Policy(NSIP) are as follows;

Federations and athletes’ development, education, health, capacity development and training, inclusivity and social development in the community, provision of facilities and infrastructure, economic development, legislative environment and international relations, funding, finance and investment for sports and the digital economy.

Only recently, the Federal Government reclassified sports as business, and not mere recreation, to birth the vision of the Policy in ensuring that sports play a prominent role as an instrument of national unity, cohesion; promoting health and fitness through mass participation; and contributing to economic development and global recognition.

In the coming weeks, the Finance Ministry and relevant financial agencies will meet to work out specific details of the incentives.

A gifted midfielder, Nwosu was the youngest member of Nigeria’s victorious 1980 African Nations Cup squad, and scored the only goal for Nigeria at the 1980 Olympics. He also played in the 1982, 1984 and 1988 tournaments, finishing runners up in the latter two, with his last game for Nigeria coming in 1991.

Nwosu spent his career at home with New Nigeria Bank (NNB) of Benin City and African Continental Bank (ACB) of Lagos. He also played for ASEC Mimosas FC of Ivory Coast and Racing FC Bafoussam of Cameroon.

Following reports that the talented Nwosu was was sick and needed support, the Minister directed Nigeria Women’s Football League (NWFL) Club Owners Chairperson Henrietta Ehiabor to visit and hand over cash gift to assist the ex footballer.

Ehiabor visited the ex player in Asaba and handed him the cash gift from the Sports Minister.

According to the well respected Ehiabor, the gesture would not end with just the cash gift, but the ex international would be given needed medical assistance. The state of his ailment would be assessed by medics with the aim of giving him proper treatment to be paid for by the Minister.

Sports Minister, Dare, had extended similar assistance to several former Nigerian footballers in the past.

• Youth Ministry, Halogen Splashes N1m Reward On Top 10 Cyber Security Trainees .

The Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare has stated that the challenge of youth bulge across the African continent has made it imperative for Governments to do more for youth development and empowerment.

Speaking as the Chief Host at the National Youth Day and African Youth Day celebration tagged ‘Breaking The Barriers to Meaningful Youth Participation and Inclusion In Advocacy’, the Minister cited the various empowerment programmes and the ‘Not too Young To Run’ Bill assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari as part of measures that has enhanced economic and political inclusion for Nigeria’s teeming youth.

According to Dare, “The N-power programme, an integral part of the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP), which has empowered and upskilled over 1m Youth is regarded as the most ambitious social protection programme in sub-Saharan Africa.

“Closely following that is the N75bn National Youth Investment Fund (NYIF), the very first of its kind in our country, approved by the President, two years ago, which has provided credit to over 20,000 young people with the numbers being scaled up to over 31,000 shortly.

“With these NYIF beneficiaries receiving between N250,000 to N3m, Government is investing in their ideas, investing in their small, micro and medium enterprises which will turn them to creators of wealth, employers of labour and also those that can contribute to the GDP of our country.

“But also, we must speak to the political will. Almost three years ago, President Buhari signed the ‘Not too Young To Run’ Bill. That Bill, now an Act of the National Assembly, strikes at the heart of inclusivity at the political level. In about three years, we have seen the number of our youth in elective offices from the local to national level on the rise. We believe that our youth must tap into this opportunity as we move into another election year to become part of the process,” the Minister emphasised.

Throwing more light on efforts to address the youth bulge in Nigeria, Dare revealed a problem of skill and certificate mismatch in relation to available jobs in the country.

“A very telling example is the issue of cyber security experts. We found out at the Ministry that over 350,000 jobs were available for young cyber security experts. In order to tap into this for the benefit of our youth, we went into partnership with Halogen to train 31,000 youth, some of who will be rewarded today for coming out tops and performing excellently in the cyber security training programmes,” the Minister stated.

The highlight of the event was the symbolic presentation of cheques and announcement of N1m cash reward each for 10 youth who scored 100% at the Halogen cyber security training.

The Minister also announced the plan to further partner with Halogen to train 250,000 more youth in the next six months.

The Honourable Minister of Youth and Sports Development Sunday Dare on Friday received
the Excellence in Public Service Award from the Federal Government.

The award that was in recognition of his excellent contributions and commitment to the growth and development of sports in the country especially in the area of infrastructure development was presented by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The Minister dedicated the award to his team, praising them for their commitment to his vision.

“This is not a personal award for me. It is for my team, the Permanent Secretary, Directors, my aides and all those working with me in the Ministry.

“Without their hardwork and commitment to this cause, this award would not happen. So this is for them all.

“It is a call for us to do more. So we will not slow down, the remaining months I have left in office is for more hard work.” He said.

Apart from ensuring the best podium finishes for Team Nigeria in recent international competitions, Sports Minister Sunday Dare has initiated programmes that have led to the rehabilitation of some of the nation’s sports edifices which had been neglected before his assumption of office in 2019.

Sporting greetings to the sports community, families, athletes and the para- athletes who have been agitating over the removal of their sport at the forthcoming National Sports festival. I had wanted to keep mute over the issue of the removal of the Para Sports ahead of the 21st National Sports Festival in Delta but my phone had not stopped buzzing since Monday (17th October, 2022).

Some agitated para athletes staged a peaceful protest at the National Stadium in Surulere last Monday to express their displeasure over the removal of most of the para events while leaving three events. The National Council on Sports broke the camel back on Wednesday by announcing that no para sports will feature at the 21st National Sports Festival in Delta later this year.

Well, it is a good thing that the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development ably led by chief Sunday Akin Dare have decided to create a National Para Sports Festival but the timing for the non inclusion of the para sports is wrong.

Fortunately, the first edition of the National Para Sports Festival was held in Abuja last April and some states could not participate because they did not have budget. Those that made it to the festival had to stage some demonstration before the state governments decided to squeeze out money from their respective sport council and sport commission to attend the maiden edition.

If you paid attention, you will notice that the power house of Sports in Nigeria like Delta, Lagos, Edo, Osun States and few other could not send their representation. This led to some athletes disguising under the umbrella of clubs.

Fast forward to this time around, news filtering around is that of the National Council of Sports in Nigeria met and decide to remove three sport- the para sport that are making Nigeria proud and will continue to make Nigeria proud at future competitions. This implies that athletes like Bose Omolayo, Oluwafeimayo Alice, Innocent Nnamdi, Precious Orji, Latifat Tijani and many others will not be partaking in any national festival this year

If you notice the para- power lifters always come to our rescue when Nigeria is in need of medals. We have World Record holders, Commonwealth Games record holders Paralympic Games record holders who are making the country proud. It is the same thing with Para Table- Tennis and Para Athletes; they made Nigeria proud in this year commonwealth games.

So, it would be a disservice to treat them less human. We know the Minister of Youth and Sports have good intentions but the intentions are coming at the wrong time.

We should use the first edition of para- festival as a test- run and we should not disengage those that did not participate in April because many people are keen on attending the festival in Asaba.

We know the winners of the festival in some States gets as much as one million naira. And we all know what this one million can do in the lives of some of them. Some of them use it to pay their house rents and feed their families. You would also be surprised that if they don’t go to the national sport Festival in Dellta state the rate of unemployment in the country will increase.

It will be an eyesore to see Commonwealth Games champions and Paralympians going to streets to beg when they have other source of livelihood which includes the National Sports Festival

We are appealing to Directors of Sports in Nigeria and the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports to reconcile. It isnot yet late to include the para sport, the various sports Council and commission already have this para athlete included in their budget. So it is not going to be extra expenses. Their money is already there. So, I am appealing to the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development as well as the National Council on Sports to include the para sports into the National Sports Festival. If we don’t, they will think you are doing them a great harm.

We are calling on well meaning Nigerians, traditional rulers, religious rulers and Ex International to appeal to the sport authority to consider bringing back the paradigm and include the para sports into the National Sports Festival.

For his tremendous job in revolutionize sports in Nigeria, Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr. Sunday Dare will be honored with the award of excellence in public service.

Mr. Dare who has been nominated by the Federal Government among other outstanding Nigerians who has distinguished themselves as a public servants will be decorated with the highest honor in the sector tagged Nigeria Excellence Awards in Public Service (NESPS)

According to release by Media Aide to the minister, Kola Adeyanju, Mr. Dare will be decorated with the award by President Muhammadu Buhari on 21st October, 2022 by 10am at the State House Conference Centre, Abuja.

Adeyanju added that there will be a forum for questions and answer with the Honourable Minister after the events .

Mr. Dare, since assumed office as Minister of Youth and Sports has introduced a lots of reforms that has helped to improve sports development in Nigeria.

He will also be remembered as the most successful sports minister in Nigeria with recent successes achieved by Team Nigeria at various international engagements.

The Nigeria athletes to the just-concluded Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and others who represented the country at other international events will be given a heroic welcome by the Federal Government at the Nigeria seat of power, Aso Villa, on Thursday.

However, coach Tony will not be among the list of people that will be recognized by the number citizen of the country

Many Nigerian journalists have expressed dismay over his omisssion saying he deserves to giving national recognition

Tolulope Oguntimehin, Head of Sports for ITV Abuja and Radio, said Tony’s contribution can not be swept under the carpet

“He has contributed immensely to the growth of the sports and has done more for gymnastics than the federation”.

Joel Ajayi a reporter with Aljazira Newspaper said he deserves some accolades and his name should be among those that will receive “presidential handshake” from Mr President

“It is really sad that his name was omitted and I think the Minister needs to do something fast about this”

Sly Ofekun, Head of Sports for Kiss FM Abuja said “I am really shocked that he was not included. This is really disheartening that Tony’s name will be missing from the list. He needs to be recognized for his contribution to the sports. He has done more for gymnastics than the gymnastics federation’

Tony Asuquo, the only coach in Nigeria certified by FIG (Federation of International Gymnastics) in Aerobic and Artistic gymnastics and one of the most qualified in the country, has produced athletes who have gone ahead to make the country proud in many international competitions.

The coach has most times been overlooked in national team appointments or recognitions despite the amount of effort he has put in at the grassroots to turn around the fortune of gymnastics in the country

Some of the athletes produced by the coach and have gone ahead to represent their states and Nigeria at National Sports festivals, African Youth Game and Africa Club Championship in South Africa are
Uche eke – first Nigerian gymnast to ever compete at the Olympics (Tokyo 2020) and the kid sensation Stephanie Onisiruka who is currently the number one female gymnast in the country, Gabriella Asemota, who represented Nigeria at African Youth Games in Algeria and also Iveren Hagher, are some of the names that have passed through his tutelage with other notable athletes like Tomisin Babatunde Akwa – Ibom; Ekezie Emeka – Delta; Josh Aliyu – katsina; Jesica Anne, Goodnews Kings and
Michael kings all from Katsina State.

Others are
Stephanie Onisiriuka – Anambara; Tunnishe Akinola – Akwa Ibom;
Daniella Asemota – FCT;
Mary David, Borni
Babarinde isheoluwa Akwa – Ibom; Mohammed Aliyu – Bauchi; Sefiya Mshela – Borno as well as Abubakar Musa from Borno State

Tony International Gymnastics, TIG has been a voice for Nigerian gymnastics on the international scene by consistently competing in International club championships in South Africa, Singapore, USA and Seychelles, winning medals in these events.

TIG through Coach Tony has etched Nigeria’s name and image in global sports and it will be a well-deserving and motivating gesture that he is accorded his due recognition by the Nigerian government along with other Nigerians tomorrow.