..Says the Renewed Hope Agenda offers best opportunity for sports development

Joel Ajayi

Driven by his undiluted resolve to boost sports development in line with the Renewed Hope mandate of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Honourable Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Owan Enoh signed three Memoranda of Understanding, on Friday in Lagos.

Senator Enoh announced that a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed with GTI Asset Management and Trust Limited to relaunch the Challenge Cup as the President Federation Cup in collaboration with the NFF to reignite interest amongst fans and elevate it to global standards. The renamed competition will involve grassroots teams, create employment for approximately 500,000 Nigerians, engage over 100,000,000 football enthusiasts, and showcase our country’s greatness globally. The President Federation Cup will become President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s legacy championing Nigerian football.

The Minister stated thus “our groundbreaking agreements with key private sector players like GTI are indications of our resolve to revolutionize sports in Nigeria, leveraging innovation, technology, and human expertise.” He thanked Mrs Tinuke Watti, the Permanent Secretary of the Sports Ministry, Alhaji Ibrahim Gusau, President of the NFF, and Mr Abubakar Lawal and all members of the GTI team for their invaluable contributions.

For the second deal, the Federal Ministry of Sports signed a landmark agreement with top lottery company Yanga Games to raise the revenue profile of the Ministry and ensure a new deal for the welfare of athletes. The Sports Minister stated that “we are partnering with YangaGames to bring maximum benefits to the athletes and all critical stakeholders.We shall give institutional encouragement and support to the Management of Yanga Games to succeed in this onerous task of rebuilding our sports sub sector.”

Chairman/CEO of Yanga Games Mr Derrick David Kentebe said” We are so super excited by this opportunity to work with the Ministry of Sports Development to change the narrative about Sports in the country. We see opportunities for marketing our athletes and sports generally.” He also added that “we shall raise about 34 Billion in the next four years to assist athletes and improve sports in the country. We shall help to develop grassroot sports and sustain youth involvement through raffle draws, fundraisers and other avenues.” Senator Enoh said that he strongly believes President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda offers the best opportunity to promote systemic development in Nigerian sports and the collaboration aims to make sports more attractive to private investors so that it can receive meaningful investments from the private sector.

For the third agreement, the Federal Ministry of Sports Development joined forces with EFFA Management for specific purposes that will enhance various aspects of the sports ministry’s strategic six-point policy framework. When Senator Enoh took office, the Ministry developed a six-point agenda named W.A.I.F.A.R. This agenda includes the welfare of our athletes, activation of sports as an industry, infrastructure development, funding for sports development, activation of grassroots sports, and the reorganization of sports federations to ensure effective delivery. Senator Enoh said that the sports sector is currently experiencing a surge in efforts to improve its performance and the Ministry is fully prepared to establish partnerships that will facilitate this much-needed transformation.

With these three groundbreaking agreements, Nigerian sports is at the cusp of phenomenal development that will further propel athletes and federations towards greater success. Senator Enoh thanked all parties for keying into the vision of the Ministry and stated that the Ministry will continually pursue causes that will lead to strategic positioning for greater development.

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