Borne out of the determination to make a statement at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, the Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung, has appealed to the National Assembly to appropriate sufficient funds for sports in the 2018 budget.
The Minister reasoned that for any meaningful success to be recorded by Nigerian athletes at the world stage in a busy 2018 calendar, headlined by the Commonwealth Games, the FIFA World Cup and the FIBA World Cup for women in Spain, there must be adequate funding.
“We all know that the success of the Super Eagles who recently booked a 2018 Russia World Cup ticket was as a result of direct support from President Muhammadu Buhari who had to personally intervene at critical times during the qualification campaigns,” he said.
Dalung said the process of running to the President at every slightest opportunity for financial intervention for sports may be difficult to sustain at the long run considering the numerous international sporting events lined up for 2018.
In proffering solutions, the Minister announced that a fundraise dinner will soon be held.
He said: “A stakeholders dinner which will also include the National Assembly, state governments and all other concerned sports stakeholders will be organized soon to chart a new course of action for our participation at the World Cup.”
With many stakeholders calling for early World Cup preparations for the mundial, Dalung said it may be an impossible task if something urgent is not done to raise the needed funds.
He said: “In fact, let’s not be deceived. There was no budgetary allocation for the Super Eagles preparation for the 2018 World Cup in the 2017 budget.”
Dalung tasked the House Committee to key into the vision of the Ministry of seeing a well prepared Super Eagles take on the world as a major player in Africa and world football.
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