Vice Presidents at Portuguese giants Benfica Football Club, Manuel Debrito and Jose Gandarez have praised the laudable ideas of Nigeria’s Sports Minister, Sunday Dare, who is in Portugal alongside President Muhammadu Buhari, as part of deliberate efforts to continually develop sports in the country.

Hon. Sunday Dare was given an official tour of Benfica’s facilities, including the enormous 65,000 capacity Estádio da Luz home ground of the club.

After several rounds of interactive brainstorming, Sunday Dare and the Benfica Vice Presidents shared notes on the budding themes of discussion on football development for the country and also the club.

Speaking thereafter, Vice President, Manuel Debrito lauded Dare’s drive and ideas while alluding that his administrative acumen will help Nigerian sports grow.

Debrito said “Nigeria is blessed to have Dare as its Sports Minister. His ideas on sports administration is lofty and charming. He is in touch with modern trends in sports development and we appreciate him for honouring us with his presence”.

Dare was also presented with the official jersey of the 37 times Portuguese champions, as he appreciated the club for their warmth and open arms.

“I want to appreciate this club that stands as a global sporting institution. Your 65,000 capacity is one of the top football grounds in Europe and we are putting all hands on deck to achieve same and even more in Nigeria. Just as this club has a thriving youth system that has generated over 1 Billion Euros in the last decade, Nigeria is also unrelenting in grassroots sports development and we would borrow a leaf, where needed”, Sunday Dare said.

Nigeria’s Minister of Youth and Sports Development arrived Portugal alongside Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari to seal multiple Memoranda of Understanding in the area of Sports, as well as Youth development between Nigeria and Portugal.

President Muhammadu Buhari and Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Hon. Sunday Dare will depart Nigeria tonight for Portugal to sign bilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on sports .

The MoU will be signed with President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria and Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa appending their support.

This MoU is coming on the heels of recent agreements signed with Spain which borders on Sports, Criminal Matters, Extradition and Transfer of Sentenced persons.

However, this MoU with Portugal is slightly different because it bothers only on creating mutualism in sports; which will see exchange of technical-know-how, sporting equipment support for athletics and football development.

This is seventh bilateral Agreement facilitated by Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare since assuming office in 2019.

The Sports Ministry under Dare signed an MoU with South Africa on Youth Dialogue and development, an event that was also attended by Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari and the Executive President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa.

Also Nigeria Ministry of Sports, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Turkey on youth and sports development in the presence of President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria and Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey.

Recently, Hon. Sunday Dare was in Spain, alongside President Muhammadu Buhari where the country also entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Spain in the Spanish Capital city of Madrid and the lastest of a long list of mutually beneficial relationships is the visit to Portugal, which would open another chapter of bi-lateral relationship between Nigeria and Portugal in areas of youth and sports development.

The 20 year old who joined CD Fierense from Remo Stars in 2018, progressed through the Sub 19 and with his impressive performance, Ayomide was drafted into the first team squad by manager Filipe Martins at the start of the 2020/2021 season.

CD Fierense currently  second on the League Liga Pro, Ayomide continues to make the matchday squad in the last 5 games and was finally given to nod to start in the League Cup game against União Sport Group.
Getting 90 minutes under his belt Ayomide helped his team to secure a 2-0 win away from home and Ayomide was filled with joy having featured in the game. 

“Finally I got to play my very first game, it’s been crazy trying to make the starting eleven, every league game I get to sit on the bench anxiously waiting for the manager to call me up.

Every game I look forward to seeing my name in the starting eleven but I know gradually I will get the first game. When I knew I made the starting eleven I said to myself this is it, I need to get in and give everything.

The cup game was my very first game with the seniors knowing fully well the quality in the team I made sure I gave it my all and I almost got a goal.
I’m glad that this is done now and I look forward to getting more games which is important for me as I want to make a positive impact for my club.”

CD Fierense takes on Chaves in their next League match on Thursday.