A report on Daily Independent suggests that President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari will not appoint a minister to head Nigeria’s sports ministry.
Sources close to the Daura-born retired general said the new government is not keen on appointing anyone to oversee the affairs of the ministry, preferring instead to allow the Director General of National Sports Commission (NSC) to relate directly with the presidency.
One of the technocrats who spoke on the condition of anonymity said experience of the last decade was not what they would want to sustain, noting that the appointment of a minister for the ministry have not added value to sports development in the country.
The source said: “When you appoint somebody who knows next to nothing, what you get is a the kind of crisis playing out now. Their interest has nothing to do with developing the sector”.
“Now we don’t know if the National Sports Festival will hold at all. We competed at the Commonwealth Games without official kits. It was that bad,” said the source.
He added that they have advised the incoming government to let the NSC be as doing so would help the Commission focus strictly on sports development instead of using limited funds to cater for needs of ministers.
Just last week, the presidency sacked Hon. Gbenga Elegbeleye, the director general of the NSC. Dr Tammy Danagogo, the sports minister, appointed Alhassan Yakmut, a director in the NSC, as the acting director general to replace Elegbeleye.
Sources close to the Daura-born retired general said the new government is not keen on appointing anyone to oversee the affairs of the ministry, preferring instead to allow the Director General of National Sports Commission (NSC) to relate directly with the presidency.
One of the technocrats who spoke on the condition of anonymity said experience of the last decade was not what they would want to sustain, noting that the appointment of a minister for the ministry have not added value to sports development in the country.
The source said: “When you appoint somebody who knows next to nothing, what you get is a the kind of crisis playing out now. Their interest has nothing to do with developing the sector”.
“Now we don’t know if the National Sports Festival will hold at all. We competed at the Commonwealth Games without official kits. It was that bad,” said the source.
He added that they have advised the incoming government to let the NSC be as doing so would help the Commission focus strictly on sports development instead of using limited funds to cater for needs of ministers.
Just last week, the presidency sacked Hon. Gbenga Elegbeleye, the director general of the NSC. Dr Tammy Danagogo, the sports minister, appointed Alhassan Yakmut, a director in the NSC, as the acting director general to replace Elegbeleye.
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