The National Sports Commission (NSC) and the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) would forge an alliance to foster grassroots sports development, tackle insecurity, and for a better podium performance at the Olympics, and other global sporting events.
The NPF has contributed to two of the three gold medals Nigeria has won at the Olympics. Chioma Ajunwa won the nation’s first ever Olympics gold medal at Atlanta 96, while Sunday Bada was a member of the victorious 4x400m relay team at Sydney 2000.
While hosting the Force Sports Planning Committee led by AIG Aishatu Abubakar Baku, NSC Chairman Mallam Shehu Dikko noted the contributions of the NPF in Nigeria’s past sporting exploits.
He said: “The history of Nigeria’s participation at the Olympics and indeed overall sports is not complete without the Police. Whatever we will do to encourage you to produce more Chioma Ajunwas and Sunday Badas, we will do it. In fact, if we do things the way we want to do it, we will have more Ajunwas and Badas”.
The NSC Chairman pointed out that the Force’s sporting policies earlier highlighted by the Committee’s chairperson, AIG Aishatu Abubakar Baku are in tandem with the Commission’s proposed Renewed Hope Initiative for Nigerian Sports Economy (RHINSE).
Dikko said : “Most of the things you have listed here are exactly along the line of the vision, objectives and plans we have for Nigerian sports. For instance, the Police Academy you are proposing can be part of the centers of excellence we are putting together as an academy. Talents discovered in the Police Academy and across the country can be enrolled in these centers while we would work together to ensure fit for purpose infrastructure and technical knowhow are in place.There is a lot we can do together”
He reiterated the importance of sports in boosting security in the country.
“The core responsibility of the Police is to foster security. Most of those that fuel this insecurity are the youths. If we get them better engaged in sporting activities and they can see the proper pathway to success they would align and get busy positively, thus insecurity will be drastically reduced”,
Dikko promised to set up a joint committee that will synergize between the NSC and the NPF to advance sports development programs along with the visions of the two organisations.
In her earlier remarks, after listing the achievements of the NPF in Nigerian sports, AIG Abubakar had said, “However, we recognize that there is still so much work to be done to achieve our goals. This is where collaboration comes in. We believe that by working together, we can leverage each other’s strength and resources to drive sports development in Nigeria.”
In his vote of thanks, Director-General of NSC Hon. Bukola Olopade corroborated the Chairman’s views while applauding the NPF for its contributions to the growth of Nigerian sports.
Among the delegation were AIG Usman Yusuf and CP Olatunji Disu, FCT Commissioner of Police and other top police officers.