The appointment of Sunday Dare as Nigeria Youth and Sports Development Minister by President Muhammadu Buhari on 21st August 2019 brought joy to the faces of athletes, coaches, and sports administrators due to his rich resumé.
Before his deployment to the ministry of youth and sports, Sunday Dare was part of the Nigeria Communication Commission responsible for the hosting of the annual Tennis Championship held in the country.
Dare knew the terrain so well that he moves into action the moment he was sworn in by the President. On the same day, he met with the executive of Nigeria Football Federation calling for peace among warring faction.
The Minister’s first assignment was to steer the ship of Team Nigeria at the African Games in Morocco where he motivated the athletes with words and finances. The minister witnessed how the football team won Gold and silver in the men and women’s category, watched the Athletics Team who thrilled the crowd at their arena and cheered the Table Tennis Team to victory.
Due to decay in sports infrastructure in the country, the sports minister made giant steps and philanthropists like Dangote and Baba Ijebu decided to renovated the Moshood Abiola and Lagos National Stadia respectively which led to the Public-Private Partnership (PPP).
In order to forestall what happened at the 2016 Rio Olympics, the minister decided to launch an initiative tagged: “Adopt and Athletes”, which received applaud from sports stakeholders. The World number women’s wrestler, Odunayo Adekuoroye was adopted by Halogen security and have been paid some amount which will aid her training ahead of the Tokyo Olympics. Other athletes adopted include Divine Oduduru, Tobi Amusan amongst others.
The minister in his wisdom held several meetings with President of National Sports Federations in ways to move sports forward in Nigeria. Sunday Dare also attended several national championships including the 2019 Prudent Energy Handball League, Cricket Championship, training of young gymnasts.
The minister adopted a young boxer (female) and a young swimmer due to the potential he saw in them believing that they are to be groomed for the future.
Sunday Dare’s main vision is to see how sports is converted from mere recreation to business where athletes, coaches, journalists, administrator, and many others can benefit from sports itself and this is what gave rise to the Nigeria Sports Industry Policy (NSIP).
Just recently, for the first time in Nigeria history, 75 billion Naira was approved from the establishment of Nigeria Youth Investment Funds (NYIF), this will help reduce the poverty rate among youths in the country.
The minister is trying all within his power to unite the warring factions of the National Youth Council of Nigeria.
If Sunday Dare can achieve this despite the COVID-19 pandemic, it is certain that the future is indeed bright for sportsmen and women including the Youth development angle
