Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Barrister Solomon Dalung has urged all states across the country to ensure they make policies for sports development part of their priority programmes.
Sports247.ng reports that Dalung said only policy approaches to sports development can make the sector grow in standard and impact, thereby becoming sustainable in the country.
He went on to identify misplacement of priorities as the reason why so many Nigerian states are unable to host the National Sports Festival.
Dalung stated this on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the 19th National Sports Festival at Abuja National Stadium, adding that he was happy to see the competition return, after the last time it was held in 2012, Lagos State hosted.
He noted that, since then, state governors have been reluctant to bid for the sports fiesta that was instituted by the General Yakubu Gowon administration in 1973.
The minister also stated that the festival’s importance as a legacy project informed his ministry’s decision to fund and host it in Abuja.
Dalung lamented: “The foot-dragging of states in hosting the event is informed by their funding challenges.
“However, the funding challenges are as a result of states not getting their priorities right.
“Whatever we are investing in, whether infrastructure or the economy, sports supports the unity required for those investments to flourish.
“There is nothing as worthy of investment as the National Sports Festival. It is symbolic of our unity, along with the NYSC and the FCT.
“It was our intention to ensure that we revive one of our national legacies, which the NSF is.
“Abandoning it for that long was a disservice and we hope once it regains consistency, the private sector will come in to support us.”
