The Minister of Youths and Sports Development, Mr. Sunday Dare, Thursday, called for an independent National Sports Commission (NSC) to develop the sector.
He made the call at a Public Hearing organised by the Senate Committee on Sports and Youths Development, chaired by Sen. Obinna Ogba.
The hearing was on two bills: The National Sports Commission Establishment Bill, 2020, and the Federal Sports University, Nkalagu, Ebonyi Establishment Bill, 2020.
Dare said: “We must set up a commission that is contemporary, one that can develop our sports in a deliberate way and radically depart from what we have before.”
He said that the sports commission currently envisaged must be restructured in a way that would make it capable of doing the work of repositioning the agenda such as the ministry had mapped out in the National Sports Industry Policy (NSIP).
“This is because we must depart from the narrow definition of the job description.”
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He further said the ministry was working with stakeholders in the industry to give Nigeria a new sports policy.
“As a ministry, we have been working with critical stakeholders to deliver for our country a new sports industry policy, christened, the Nigerian Sports Industry Policy (NSIP).
“This, we hope, to change the scope of our sports development. It is our intent to build a business model around sports in Nigeria so that we can be on the same path like North America, Europe and other climes.”
Declaring the hearing open, President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan said that sports had become a tool of influence and commercial endeavour.
Lawan, who was represented by Senate Minority Whip, Sen. Philip Aduda, called for the right governance and policy framework to develop the sector.
