Sports

Abba Yola Bags PAN African ICON of Sports Award

Published

3 years ago

September 25, 2022

The Chief of Staff to the Honourable Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Alh. Abba Yola has bagged the prestigious Thomas Sankara Leadership Prize for Pan – African Icon of Sports Renaissance Award in honour of his leadership ideology and high administrative prudence in the field of sports.

At the award ceremony which held in Abuja over the weekend, the President, Youth Partnership For Africa’s Development (YOUPAD), Hon. Coulibaly Hameed described him as a consumate Pan Africanist.

In a press statement issued by Director (Press & Public Relations) Mohammed Manga on Sunday said that the youth group commended him for his well articulated policies which has positively transformed sports development in , of,,various capacities of his services to Nigeria, as well as his leadership with zero tolerance for corruption, nepotism and favoritism.

Past illustrious recipients of the prize, he stated, include President Umar Al-Bashir of Sudan, IGP Ibrahim Idris and Prof. Chukwuma Ozumba, amongst other distinguished Africans.

In his acceptance speech, the award recipent and Chief of Staff to the Honourable Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Alh. Abba Yola attributed the recognition to the doggedness and pragmatic approach of the Honourable Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr. Sunday Dare.

“This achievement would not have been possible without the doggedness of my boss, the Honourable Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr. Sunday Dare, with the full support of His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, he said.
According to him, sports is a natural fit for him as he has been involved in different levels of its management and administration, from State to Federal capacities.

While commending the Youth Partnership for Africa’s Development for the honour, he said, “this award will no doubt encourage me to continue to do what I know best, contribute to the development of our youth through sports”.

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Sports

DG NSC Bukola Olopade charges Sports Federations Secretaries on Innovative Approach for optimal output

Published

6 hours ago

April 29, 2025

The Gleamer

The National Sports Commission, NSC, has charged the Secretary Generals of various Sports Federations to have an innovative approach towards the discharge of their duties for an effective Sports Development Goal.

The Director General of the NSC, Hon Bukola Olopade gave the charge when he held a strategic meeting with all the various Secretaries of the National Sports Federations on Tuesday in Abuja.

” I must first of all say to you all that contrary to what is being perceived out there before myself and the Chairman, Mallam Shehu Dikko came on board, I am shocked, surprised and very impressed with the professional qualities of all of you. You all are some of the best Sports brains we have in this country and we are proud to have you”.

” But as we know there is always room for improvement and that is why I have called for this meeting to spur you for bigger challenges ahead”.

” An Innovative mind is very vital for Growth, therefore I am challenging your intelligent minds to look inwards and come up with concepts that will enhance your output and the qualities of the Federations”.

” I am a pathological optimist and I believe you can do more and be more creative and dynamic by thinking out of the box. You all might have known by now that I have an open door policy where every secretary can work into my office and discuss the way forward for his or her Federation”.

The DG also reemphasized the Commission’s Reset, Refocus and Relaunch mandate to the secretaries and the need for them to apply it in the organisation of their activities especially as it regards the image of the country’s Athletes at International Competitions.

” The welfarism of Nigerian athletes is of utmost importance to the Commission and that is why we established the Elite and Podium board which we have started seeing their work in the area of grading our top athletes for different categories of Training Grants”.

” And it is therefore important for the various Secretary Generals to know that the way we fly and dress our athletes for international competitions is also very important in high performance”.

All our top Athletes in Category A of the Podium Board rankings will no longer fly anything less than a business class for International Competitions.No more jamboree travelling but we must scientifically look at the way we run our Sports for High Performance results”, the DG concluded.

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