Kaduna state Ministry of Sports Development has dissolved the leadership of the state’s 36 sports associations to pave way for fresh elections and democratization of the sports bodies.
The Commissioner for Sports Development, Professor Kabir Mato, said democratization of sports associations by conducting elections into their executive committees would be in tune with best international practice, just as the Ministry moves towards reinvigorating sports activities in the state post Covid-19 pandemic.
A statement issued by the Special Assistant on Media to the Commissioner, Malam Ismaila Lere, said Prof. Mato stated this during a meeting with the state sports association chairmen in his office on Thursday. Mato also declared that the Ministry will work closely with the new leadership of the 36 sports associations to take sports in Kaduna state to greater heights.
“From my little experience in the Ministry over a year ago, what I have found was that some sports associations are up and doing, while others are not living up to expectations. My interpretation of the concept of association has to do with the fact that globally there’s this agitation that sports should be democratized and it should be in the hands of people instead of government dictating the tune all the time.
“The idea to bring about elections in sports associations is imperative and necessary if we have to develop the various sports so as to be able to secure the necessary skills that are needed in order to take sports to the next level. As a government we have a priority, the objective of this government is to bring back the glory of sports as we used to have in Kaduna state.
“But after a long while for one reason or the other bordering on neglect and situation of time, the attention that the sports sector used to enjoy has been disrupted,” Mato said, while stressing the Ministry’s readiness to collaborate with all sports associations to bring back the lost glory and develop sports from the grassroots.
“Government created the ministry of sports development specifically to play the role of making sports as an avenue of not only building the skills of the youth and building human capital; not only for leisure but as an economic enterprise. I do believe that sincerely that we are likely not going to succeed if we keep behaving in a bureaucratic way without pulling resources together and working closely with the sports associations to achieve these desired objectives.
“As a government we are prepared to provide the enabling environment and infrastructure so that every sport will develop and possibly reach whatever peak that it so desires to reach.
“Government doesn’t have the resources to fund every bit of activities that is why we have sports associations, but as a government we will provide the platform with the little resources that we have in assisting these associations that we have,” the Commissioner added.
