The Nation Newspaper

Tag: NSC

  • NSC to organise U-17 gymnastics competition in Edo

    NSC to organise U-17 gymnastics competition in Edo

    The National Sports Commission (NSC), on Wednesday said it would organise U-17 Gymnastics and Football competitions in Edo, as part of its activities to develop grassroots sports in the state.

    Yemi Usikaye, the Zonal Coordinator, NSC South-South Zone 1, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Benin.

    Usikaye said that the essence of the competitions was to discover new talents in the zone and expose them to competitions that would sharpen their skills.

    “The gymnastics competition, which is for both male and female, will commence on Nov.10 and end on Nov.11. 12 gymnasts with two officials are expected to feature per state, namely: Edo, Delta and Bayelsa.

    “The essence of the competition is to catch the gymnasts early, harness them and expose them to regular competitions so that they can rise to stardom. We decided to organise gymnastic competitions because there are promising gymnasts in the country, who can do us proud at local and international competitions.

    “We don’t want to continually invest in a particular sport; we want to diversify, so that different athletes will be exposed to training and competitions. The gymnastics competition is a maiden edition and by the grace of God, it will eventually be an annual competition”, he said.

    Usikaye also told NAN that the NSC South-South Zone 1, U-17 Football competition for males would hold from Nov.14 to Nov.17.

    The zonal coordinator, however, appealed for support from corporate bodies, to make the competition an outstanding one.

    “The NSC South-South Zone 1 office will be sponsoring, but we are still soliciting for support from corporate bodies, sports lovers and sport philanthropists, to complement our efforts. Government alone cannot support sports; it’s with support from corporate organisations that sports can move to greater heights in the country.

    “So that from time to time, we can organise regular competitions that will keep athletes active and enable them to improve on their skills”, Usikaye added.

  • NSC reshuffles Federations’ secretaries

    NSC reshuffles Federations’ secretaries

    In a bid to achieve its objectives in High Performance Sports, in line with best global practices, the National Sports Commission (NSC) has reshuffled Secretaries of the various sports federations.

    The reshufflement was announced yesterday by the Honourable Minister and Chairman of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Bolaji Abdullahi in an interactive session with federations Secretaries at the Media Centre of the Abuja National Stadium.

    The minister who described the session as a significant milestone in the context of the re-organisation in the NSC, said, it has become imperative for the Commission to move away from the era of lack of productivity to a more enhanced productivity in line with global best practices.

    Abdullahi lamented that despite concerted efforts and achievements made by the Commission in recent times compared to what obtains in the past 20years towards sports development in the country, the conduct of some of the Secretaries have unfortunately smeared the image of the NSC in the view of the general public.

    According to him, the public erroneously believe that the Commission is only out to sabotage the efforts of the government and the athletes.

    Consequently, he enjoined the Secretaries to always promote positive traits and ideas that will inspire and stimulate growth in the sports sector, stressing that “the performance of the federation is the aggregate performance of the National Sports Commission.

    In his remarks, Director General of the commission, Hon. Gbenga Elegbeleye noted that the Commission would not leave anything to chance at achieving set objectives.

    He stated that the Secretaries can no longer afford to do things the way they like. He further revealed that the NSC has formulated a ‘Code of Conduct’ guideline that will henceforth regulate the actions and activities of the federations Secretaries.

    Some of the major reshufflement includes movement of Secretaries from Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Nigeria Boxing Federation, Nigeria Wrestling Federation and Nigeria Weightlifting Federation to mention but a few.

  • Namibia will fall- DG NSC

    Namibia will fall- DG NSC

    The Director General of the National Sports Commission Gbenga Elegbeleye has boasted that the Mighty Warriors of Namibia will not be a threat to the Super Eagles in their World Cup qualifier holding in Windhoek, Namibia today.
    Speaking exclusively to Nationsports in Abuja, the former member of the Federal House of Representatives said “we have nothing to fear against Namibia in tomorrow’s match. The Kenyans were very boastful, and at the end of the day they were humiliated. Nothing would stop the Mighty Warriors of Namibia from falling. All the Super Eagles needs to do is remain focus, and endeavour to take the game to the Namibians just like what they did against the Kenyans, and ensure that they were not complacent at any point all through the match. I am sure nothing would stop them from picking the maximum points. Our target is getting to the World Cup in Brazil next year, and I don’t think the likes of Namibia will be a hindrance to us” he said
    The Namibia national football team, nicknamed the Brave Warriors. They have never qualified for the World Cup but have made two appearances in the Africa Cup of Nations.
    Namibia played its first international under the name South-West Africa on 16 May 1989 at home against neighboring Angola and lost 1–0. On 23 March 1990, only two days after gaining independence from South Africa, they hosted neighbour Zimbabwe and lost 5–1.

  • Club Owners congratulate new NSC boss

    Chairmen and Managers of Nigeria Profesional Football League clubs otherwise known as Club Owners have congratulated the newly appointed Director-General of the National Sports Commission (NSC) Hon. Gbenga Elegbeleye on his appointment which the Association described as well deserved.

    A statement issued and signed by the acting chairman Barr. Isaac Danladi and the Secretary Alloy Chukwuemeka respectively said the coming of Elegbeleye to the NSC would add more value to the system, considering his past experiences as the vice chairman House Committee on Sports, as well as his membership of the board of Rising Stars FC of Akure amongst others.

    The Club Owners urged him to use his position to develop a workable blueprint and stronger policy for sports development in Nigeria, as well as ensure that he maximises the usage of all the relevant stakeholders in the sports sector in major policy formulations and decisions.

    The body praised President Goodluck Jonathan for his wise choice in the appointment of Hon. Elegbeleye.

  • NIA, NSC collaborates to form insurance clubs

    NIA, NSC collaborates to form insurance clubs

    Mr Remi Olowude, Chairman, Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA), has said the association was collaborating with the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) to form insurance clubs.

    He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the collaboration would be in the area of growing both industries and forming Protection and Indemnity Insurance Clubs.

    Olowude said the NIA would help to introduce clubs where members from both associations would regularly meet to do business.

    He said that the clubs would help to monitor developments in the maritime sub-sector in Nigeria and also track developments in maritime international conventions.

    “It is my conviction that this kind of collaboration will help to develop marine insurance.

    “The clubs will also assist to protect maritime risks premiums and facilitate receipt of claims,” Olowude said.

    He said the uploading of marine insurance policies on the Nigerian Insurance Industry Database (NIID) would be made easier through the clubs.

    According to him, the second phase of the NIID project would mainly focus on the uploading of marine insurance policies.

    He disclosed that Motor and Mari)e Insurance policies were being given priority in the first phase of the NIID uploading of data project because of the “magnitude of fraud in those areas’’.

    “The volume of fake insurance certificates which businessmen in those two areas are parading compelled us to give attention to them so as to reduce such crime,’’ Olowude said.

  • ‘President, NSC rewards tonic for 2016 Paralympics’

    ‘President, NSC rewards tonic for 2016 Paralympics’

    MONDAY Emoghavwe, the President, Paralympic Committee of Nigeria, has predicted that the country would win more medals at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.

    Emoghavwe made the prediction while reacting to the honour bestowed on the athletes who won Gold at the 2012 London Paralympic Games by President Goodluck Jonathan. He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the gesture was adequate from what happened in the past.

    “The disabled sports has never had it so good and the non-recognition of disabled athletes by Nigeria’s past leaders was enough to dampen one’s spirit towards participating in sports in the country,’’ he said.

    Emoghavwe said that following Mr President’s gesture the committee would have no option than to surpass the London achievements in the 2016 games.

    “To whom much is given, much is expected. I remember vividly when a former president said we should come and receive a golden handshake, when our counterpart in China we performed better than, were given $10 million, and a house each.

    “Then, we came back and many Nigerians did not even know that we travelled for the Paralympic games.

    “We are so happy that President Jonathan rewarded us, and he made us proud when he said that we were worthy of emulation,’’ Emoghavwe said.

    The three-time paralympic gold medalist said that apart from the presidential awards, the cash reward by the National Sports Commission (NSC) was another source of motivation for the athletes ahead of the Rio games.

    NAN recalls that earlier, the NSC had given each paralympic gold medalist, $7,500; silver medalist $5,000, while each bronze medalist received $2,500.

    Emoghavwe commended the NSC leadership for its support, saying that it would ginger them to do more.

    “It was only in 2000 Commonwealth Games in Manchester that we were selected to be given winning bonuses and currently, the minister has extended it. There were loads of challenges in terms of finance and technical input, but I just thank God that our travelling to South Korea for a training tour boosted our performance.

    “You get a better result when you move an athlete out of his country to where he will focus very well and we were able to manage the challenges with the help of the minister who deemed it fit to send us on a training tour,” he added.

    NAN reports that Emoghavwe has won gold for the country in power-lifting in three paralympic games.

    His first attempt was at the 1992 Barcelona games when he lifted 48kg. He also finished top of the 60kg and 67.5kg categories at the 1996Atlanta Olympics and 2000 Sydney games respectively.