Minister Renews Commitment To Grassroots Sports Development
Written by darling on November 12, 2019
Minister of Youth and Sports Development Sunday Dare has confirmed that giving a boost grassroots football a boost and promoting youth participation in sports is priority for the ministry.
Mr Dare made the assurance in Daura, Katsina State, at the finals of the 2019 PMB Cup for the Next Level where Arewa United FC of Kankia defeated F.C Barcelona of Daura 1-0 to emerge champions.
According to the Minister, “I can say that what I’ve seen here today has shown that Nigeria is a football nation and that our youths love football so we must support and develop them through football”.
The Minister praised the organisers of the competition for sustaining the tournament over the years, adding that it was in line with the Ministry’s vision for grassroots football development.
“When I came in three months ago, I outlined three things as my strategic plans. One is grassroots development. That means, we shall return to grassroots to fish out talents. What I have seen here today is real grassroot football development with very little support from the government. You can say it is all private personal initiative, so I’m here to support this, to inspire them and to also make sure we support them all the way.”
“I will work with the organizers to look for the four best players from this tournament, I will inject them into the national team, any of the cadres depending on their years, we will hand them over to the NFF as the talented stars we discovered from here,” he concluded.
Forty teams featured at the tournament and the final match had a packed stadium of football fans which include the Governor of Katsina State, Bello Masari.
