Nigeria’s sports egg heads have set in motion an ambitious and elaborate plan to host the continent’s flagship female national teams’ football competition, Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) in 2028, Sports247 reports.
This was made known by National Sports Commission (NSC) chairman, Mallam Shehu Dikko, who cited the WAFCON 2028 bid as an integral part of the present administration’s efforts at creating a better image for the country internationally.
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While also placing the WAFCON venture among key aspects of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s economic policy and a ‘New Agenda’ for Nigeria, Dikko added that it would further boost the ongoing task of making sports a vibrant tool for socio-political revival of the country.
Dikko also downplayed critical comments trailing Nigeria’s inability to win hosting rights for the Commonwealth Games and stressed that it simply means the country will now be able to fully focus on staging the Africa Games flawlessly in 2031.
He affirmed, “We will continue our own trajectory, because we have an offer to host the Africa Games in 2031. So, we are going to continue with that effort.
“We have also been offered the Africa Youth Games for 2027 and we’ll continue our preparations for that as well. We are also working to see if we can even get the WAFCON in 2028 from CAF. So, we’ll also continue pressing for that.”
The NSC boss, who is a former chairman of Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) and second vice-president of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), also provided an explanation of what the country stands to gain from all hosting ventures coming along the way.
“All of this is because hosting major competitions is one of the fundamental pillars of the current government’s New Agenda. That’s also the best way through which we can get our facilities working.
“We’ll also be able to engineer our domestic sports ecosystem to deliver the financial values that we are looking for in the country,” Dikko theorised.
Aside from economic and infrastructure benefits, which he believes can be gained from the hosting bids, Dikko also spoke about the need to give Nigeria a polished image internationally.
He pointed out, “We want to use sports to keep lifting up the country and make it have the best image globally; while also attracting investors, tourists and many other benefits.
