The Senate through its committee on sports development on Wednesday, December 13, told the federal government that the Confederation of African Football (CAF) awards given to Nigerian Sports Men and Women in Morocco last Sunday is a wake-up call for more investment in sports.
The chairman of the committee, Senator Suleiman Kawu Sumaila, in a statement in Abuja, described the awards “as bold and big statements made on behalf of Nigeria by the winners.
He said: “It is a wake-up call for the government to invest more in Sports and to pull the private sector more into it.”
In the CAF Awards, Victor Osimhen won the Men African Player of the Year Award, Asisat Oshoala won the Women African Player of the Year Award, Chiamaka Nnadozie won Best Goalkeeper of the Year and Super Falcons won the Best Women National Team Award.
The committee congratulated President Bola Tinubu, the Minister of Sports, Senator John Owan Enoh and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), on the feat recorded by Nigerians from the Awards.
Senator Sumaila also described the Awards as a new dawn for sports in the country under the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Tinubu.
The statement read in part: “By this clean sweep of awards by our son, Victor Osimhen, our daughters Asisat Oshoala, Chiamaka Nnadozie and the entire Super Falcons Team, we in the Senate Committee, will leverage on the success for Nation building.
“We stand to be corrected, no sector has done Nigeria this proud. No sector has brought Nigeria honour and glory more than sports. This is the more reason for the development of the sector in making it one of the strongest pillars for the diversification of the Nation’s economy.
“We will not encourage the handshake policy of the past to be used for those who have done us the new honours but ensure that those who deserve to be rewarded are handsomely rewarded to serve as an encouragement for others to strive to be the best.”
