By Jude Opara, Abuja
The National Sports Commission (NSC), has urged the Secretaries of the various Sports Federations to have an innovative approach towards the discharge of their duties for an effective sports development goals.
The Director General (DG) of the NSC, Hon. Bukola Olopade gave the charge on Tuesday in Abuja when he held a strategic meeting with all the various Secretaries of the National Sports Federations.
Olopade also charged the Secretaries to continue to be dedicated in their duties of piloting the affairs of their federations, adding that he was impressed with what he has seen, which is contrary to what they were told before he and the NSC Chairman, Mallam Shehu Dikko assumed office.
“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 re-emphasized the Commission’s Reset, Refocus and Relaunch mandate to the secretaries and the need for them to apply in the discharge of their activities especially as it regards to the image of the country at international competitions.
“The welfare 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 Secretaries to know that the way we fly and dress our athletes for international competitions is also very important in high performance”.
Olopade added that all top athletes in category A of the elite athletes rankings will no longer fly anything less than a business class for international competitions.
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