The Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr. Sunday Dare, has assured all Nigerian athletes that his Ministry would stand with them in any situation relating to the sport may find themselves.
He said this while receiving the representatives of the victorious Team Nigeria, nicknamed ‘The Unstoppables’ to the recently concluded Abuja 2020 Para Powerlifting World Cup in his office in Abuja.
The tournament which kicked off on Tuesday Febuary 4th and ended on Friday, February 7th. Ten Junior and 20 Senior athletes were presented for tournament that had 13 countries represented. Nigeria won six gold medals in the Junior Category and 11 gold medals plus five silver medals in the Senior Category. In addition, the team broke three world records in Para Powerlifting.
The Minister thanked the team for staying focused in the face of provocations and making the country proud. He added that the Ministry is backed by the law to supervise the activities of the sporting federations and insisted that it would do its best to protect Nigerian athletes at all times.
“The Ministry will intervene anywhere Nigeria’s sporting interests, glory and reputation is at stake. That is why we are the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development.
“The Ministry will not interfere; that’s why you have a board. And I want to advise, whatever the issues are, the board should do its work.”
He also assured that the Ministry would provide the necessary support for the forthcoming competition billed to hold in Dubai and the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.