The National Sports Commission led by Chairman Mallam Shehu Dikko held a meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the presidential villa yesterday. Also in the delegation were the Director-General Hon. Bukola Olopade and the SSA to the President on Grassroots Sports Development Adeboye Adeyinka.
In an interview with Mitchel Obi on Sports Salsa (Kennis 104.1 FM), Dikko is enthusiastic that the meeting with the president has given impetus to the Commission’s unflinching resolve to move Nigerian sports from consumption to production.
His words, ‘The president is very keen to do whatever is needed to drive the process. For us to create the sports economy we are working on, he has to be the number one driver and be the one on the driving seat while we the professionals are providing the advice and the process.”
Considering the support extended by the president, Diikko opines that he and his team are condemned to succeed.
“We have put our hearts and minds into it so we will do it. We cannot afford to fail Mr. President because he gave us the right support and everything that is needed”, he pointed out.
In his opinion, the current Sports Commision setting bodes well for sports development evidenced by the meeting with the president.
He continued, “The meeting that we had with Mr. President yesterday is what the Sports Commission is actually meant to be. You have direct access. He is aware of everything that is going on and puts his own suggestions and opinions. You submit your memos directly to the president. After the meeting yesterday, we submitted about four, five memos capturing many activities that we feel should be done. He will take his time to study them and of course there is a process for approval, but that has cut off the bureaucracy for sports.”
In his opinion, direct access to the president makes the assignment much easier.
“You can walk directly to the number one citizen who is the CEO of the country. Part of the long-term plans is to make these meetings either biweekly or bimonthly. Where we will sit down with Mr. President and discuss. It makes things easier for everybody. This is not a mere handshake, it is a proper meeting where you sit down for quite some time and have a decent conversation with Mr President. We were in the Villa from 3pm until 7pm”, he added.
He shed some light on some of the issues discussed with the president.
“We discussed so many things about the sports festival, the World Cup qualifiers, even the promises that were made to the Super Eagles”, he concluded.
