Dalung Charges Private Sector on Sports Development

The Minister of Youth and Sports, Barrister Solomon Dalung has called on the private sector to invest in grassroots sports development.

Dalung gave the charge at the 5th annual Sports Summit and Games of the Redeemed Christian Church of God in conjunction with the Nigeria Olympic Committee held at the Redeemer's Camp ground along the Lagos Ibadan expressway.

Represented by his Special Assistant on media, Nneka Anibeze, Dalung, who spoke on the topic "Transforming Potential Athletes to Olympic Stars: Challenges and Solution-The Global, African and Nigerian perspectives, said the private sector including churches holds the key to sports development and charged them to go down to the grassroots to invest in sports.

More so when some of the private sectors already have modern-day facilities that can transform an upcoming talents into a world and Olympic champion just the way the Redeemed Church did by sponsoring a wrestler, Odunayo Adekoroye, an Olympic star, who was the first athlete to qualify and represented Nigeria at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

The minister commended Pastor Eunoch Adeboye for his good works and reasoned that his ministry can continue to build on such partnership where churches will invest in youths at the grassroots.

Responding, Pastor Adeboye, who was represented by the Redeemed Assistant General Overseer, Funsho Otegbola, said it has been discovered that any country's future success in sports at the highest level is absolutely to be determined

by the ability of its sports scientists to go down to the grassroots to identify those athletes with special sporting talents.