The Nigeria Minister of Sports Development Sen John Owan Enoh, has said that they are charging Zonal Coordinators to brace up and begin to work closely and assiduously with their States.
“They must also ensure that sports activities are organised and well packaged right at the grassroots in order to attract private sector sponsorships,” he added.
The minister gave the charge during his courtesy call on the Governor of Enugu State, Dr Peter Ndubusi Mbah, in the South-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria.
The Minister said that the Ministry under his watch will utilize the Zonal Offices across the country with a view to decentralizing sports so as to make room for easy discovery of talents, monitoring as well as grooming for the purpose of moving them to the elite stage
“This further underscores the importance of our visit to the Zonal Office Headquarters located in the State,” he explained.
According to him, the visit would also avail him the opportunity of having a first-hand knowledge of Enugu State’s current status in the sports echo system in order to take definitive action on them as well as have a one-on-one discussion with the Executive Governor of Enugu State, Dr Peter Ndubuisi Mbah on how to unlock the economic potentials of sports.
After he inspected facilities in the State in the company of the Hon Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Mr. Lloyd Ekweremadu and others, Enoh said, Federal Government was impressed with the commitment of the Enugu Government, especially in the areas of grassroots sports, talent identification, infrastructure upgrade.
He said the vision of government at the Federal level is to see sports as a sector that can create jobs, alleviate poverty in the society and contribute to Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Lloyd Ekweremadu, the Hon Commissioner for Youth and Sports Enugu State, lauded President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led Administration for endorsing the National Sports Industry Policy (NSIP) approved by the immediate past administration.
In her remarks, the Zonal Coordinator, South East Zone, Ayi Roseline Chidiebere assured the Minister that the Zone will work assiduously towards the successful realisation of the policy objectives of the present administration.
Facilities inspected were the South East Zonal Headquarters of the Ministry, indoor sports hall, hostels under construction, the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, Rangers International Stadium, Rangers Administration offices as well as their football training pitch.
The South East Zonal Headquarters comprises Enugu, Abia, Ebonyi, Anambra and Imo States.