Samaila promises ‘deep-rooted’ changes
ABUJA, Nigeria – Sports Minister, Se’idu Samaila who takes over officially Monday in Abuja has promised to surpass the achievements of the Super Eagles in 1994 in all aspects of our Sports by working with sports veterans to continue to explore Sports as a single unifying factor in Nigeria. The Minister in an exclusive interview with Vanguard newspapers in his Abuja home over the weekend said he would avoid the pitfalls of the past which had dimmed the achievements of his predecessors or even completely made a mess of everything some of them set out to achieve during their tenures.
In his words: “I have a clear cut directive from Mr. President to carry out the on-going reforms in all aspects of our lives in the Sports Ministry, and I will not stop at anything that could be done to achieve this during my tenure in the Ministry.
“We still remember the achievements of our Super Eagles in the World Cup finals hosted by the Americans in 1994, and I hope to bring back the discipline in that particular team into all Sports in this country so that everybody would reap the benefit at the end.
“We would want to see how the veterans achieved what they did in boxing, athletics, football, as well as all other sports and see what we have been doing wrongly so we can start getting things right from this point.”
Samaila further revealed that his tenure in the Ministry would be characterized by deep-rooted private sector participation, which in his views, is the only solution to our Sporting woes.
The new sports helmsman told Vanguard that; “my posting to Sports is a tax on my over twenty years of Accounting practice in the private sector of our nation’s economy at this time that the Federal Government is involving the private sector in all spectre of our nation-building.
“Having served as a Minister in two Ministries and knowing the constraints that come with waiting for government funds, I hope to tap into my links with private sector giants all over the country to write their names in gold by assisting us to fund the sporting talents to bring glory to our fatherland.”
Mallam Se’’idu Samaila, was the Deputy Managing Director, Inland Bank Plc. before his appointment in 2003 as the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs; before his redeployment, still as junior Minister to the Internal Affairs Ministry.
He will hand over first his Internal Affairs portfolio, before taking over later in the day as the 13th Nigerian Sports Minister from Col. Musa Mohammed (rtd) who’s most memorable achievement was the Silver Medal won by the Flying Eagles at the just-concluded U-23 World Cup in Holland.
By Abayomi Adeshida, for the Vanguard newspapers.
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