The Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr Sunday Dare, Wednesday, received the President of the International Olympics Committee (IOC) Mr Thomas Bach in Abuja.

Receiving the IOC President, the Minister listed some of the activities lined up for the two-day visit. “Nigeria welcomes the President of the International Olympic Committee Mr Thomas Bach very warmly to Nigeria and the ANOCA President Bartman Barif and the entire team and we hope that the next two days will be exciting as we have lined up a number of activities. One of the most important is the commissioning of the ANOCA headquarters which is Olympics headquarters for Africa, the visit to the school where Olympic values are taught. We will also be at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium to meet with Olympians and some of our athletes who are on their way to the Olympics 2020.

The IOC President who spoke to journalists upon arrival expressed delight to be in Nigeria while corroborating the Minister’s position on activities lined up for his visit. “It is a great pleasure arriving here in Nigeria, a great sporting country. I’m looking forward to a very successful meeting with the government, the International Olympic Committee and most importantly to meet the Nigerian athletes and wish them luck for their qualification and participation in the Olympic games Tokyo 2020. I will also have the opportunity to visit the school where the Olympic values are being promoted in an exemplary way, it’s a very rich program and I’m really looking forward to enjoying the Nigerian hospitality.”

The Minister had Friday last week, held a press conference to intimate the media on activities lined up for the IOC President’s visit. The IOC President had visited Cape Verde, Senegal and Cameroon before arriving in Nigeria for a two-day visit.