Sports Minister advocates for a better investment in grassroot sports

Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung, has called for a holistic approach that will incorporate sports and education in Nigerian schools.
Dalung made the call on Tuesday while declaring open the National Conference on Sports Education In Nigeria, jointly organised by the Federal Ministries of Education and Sports.
The minister, who was represented by the Head of Public and Private Partnership at the Ministry of Sports, Bolaji Oladejo, said the initiative will upgrade sports in the country’s educational sector and help the country in uncovering hidden talents at the grassroots. He said the blending of sports and education will result in optimum development of sports at the grassroots in the country.
“The main objective of the conference is to complement existing efforts on formulation and implementation of policy and legislation geared towards stimulating geometric upgrade of sports in our educational and occupational sector and diagnosing the pathways to advancing sports in Nigeria,” Dalung said. The conference tagged “Sports Heroes And Heroines Do Not Develop From The Buds But The Root, A Clarion Call To Support Grassroots Sports”.
Relevant stakeholders are attending the four- day national sports summit designed to enable Nigerian youths to actively participate in sports as part of educational curricular.
The Chairman Organising Committee the Nigerian Sports Summit Project (NSSP), Philip Aziegbe said the various institutions were in support of the summit.
Aziegbe said the summit will revamp the synergies between school sports and education at the grassroots level as all decisions reached will be implemented.
“The conference is an avenue to source and mobilize programs and resources from the Public Private Partnership (PPP) synergies which will motivate and effectively supports sports and education, as well as increasing participation in secular sports from the grassroots to the intentional levels, also to promote our sports physical and health education and other related sporting activities at the grassroots level” Aziegbe said.