Sports minister, Barrister Solomon Dalung is again counting gains of the 19th National Sports Festival, as he says the competition in Abuja shows that his administration has been able to overcome the banes of bureaucracy and politicking that bedevil sports.
Sports247.ng reports that Dalung is already counting chicks from the ongoing festival in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), as he relishes his ministry’s ability to get the gathering back after a hiatus of six years.
Though the Plateau State-born sports administrator lamented that three generations of Nigerian talents were missed in the period the festival was comatose, Dalung is taking consolation from what he calls historic results already recorded at Abuja 2018.
Dalung went on to disclose that four states have submitted applications for approval as future hosts of the festival, which he stressed has now become an institution for Nigerian unity.
He added: “The festival is back and there are so many prospective hosts. At the moment, four states have submitted applications.
“I am happy that the NSF is back but I am sad that we have denied three generations the opportunity to showcase and develop themselves.
“We have already created a perfect structure. It is no more the issue of a bureaucrat sitting at the ministry or governors playing the politics.
“The NSF has become an incorporated institution which runs itself. The ministry maintains the policy while private sector provides funding.”
