The Senate of Nigeria has reaffirmed its commitment to working with qualified and experienced professionals to restore Nigeria’s leadership in sports on the continental stage.
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Sports Development, Senator Abdul Ningi, gave the assurance during the screening of Mainasara Umar Illo, the presidential nominee for appointment as Executive Secretary and Chief Executive of the Nigerian Anti-Doping Centre, at the Senate.
Senator Ningi said the country needs knowledgeable and experienced individuals in sports administration to effectively drive development in the sector.
He also commended Bola Ahmed Tinubu for demonstrating commitment to advancing sports development through the nomination of Mainasara Illo to head the centre.
He stressed the need for all to come together, share ideas, share experiences to boost the sporting activities in the country having endowed with the very best people to handle sports
However, all members of the committee have expressed gratitude to Mr President for the well deserved appointment of Mainasara Illo and hope that together they would achieve the desired objective of sport development in Nigeria.
Responding to questions, Mainasara Umar Illo assured that if confirmed by the Senate, he would do his best to ensure success in developing sporting sector for job creation and socio economic sustainability among the Youths in Nigeria.
He said he will use his experiences in sporting activities to ensure Nigerian athletes benefit more and have the actual international sporting exposure
Mainasara Illo has also assured good synergy and collaboration with the relevant agencies such as National Drug and Law Enforcement Agency NDLEA in giving the required testing techniques to Nigerians Athletes so as to be able to participate in any international sporting contest
Illo believes that Anti- Doping Centre is very critical for the development of sporting activities now but need proper funding, urging the National Assembly to give their maximum support for president Bola Ahmad Tinubu to achieve his objective of moving sporting activities forward in Nigeria.
Cov/ Bashir M
