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Tag: Solomon Dalung

  • Dalung Receives Gold Winning Scrabble Team

    Dalung Receives Gold Winning Scrabble Team

    The Minister of Youth and Sports Barrister Solomon Dalung has applauded the National Scrabble team who returned from Nairobi Kenya after winning the World English language Scrabble Championship back to back.
    Barrister Dalung said with this result, the World English Language Scrabble has relocated from Europe to Nigeria.
    “I congratulate the Scrabble Federation for again making Nigeria proud by re-enacting their status and commitment to the game of scrabble.
    “Last year, your historic feat of placing the map of Nigeria on the world of scrabble where for the first time in black history , a black man emerged as a world champion. That was celebrated by not only Nigerians but the government of Nigeria who received the champion.
    “Two years down the line, we are here again to celebrate another success with greater improvement and participation . I dare to say that Scrabble has relocated from its traditional home in Europe and is now domesticated in Nigeria.”
    The Minister thanked the team for their selflessness and belief in Nigeria and promised that government will continue to support the game of Scrabble and fund their activities within the limited resources available. He also used the occasion to call on the National Assembly to allocate more funds to sports in Nigeria.
    “In the last two years, the Ministry of Youth and Sports has done better than any Ministry because we have brought glory to Nigeria more than any Ministry. If this is the situation, then we need more funds. A situation where federations that have made the country proud have a yearly budgetary allocation of only N30 or  N40m which cannot even fund one trip in some cases, is unacceptable. We have over stretched the commitment of our people because members of the federation have been contributing their personal money to sponsor trips.”
    Barrister Dalung appealed to the private sector to adopt some athletes and sponsor their training to relieve government of some of the burden and also called on the scrabble federation to embark on a massive advocacy of the game by taking scrabble to secondary and primary schools and tertiary institutions to identify young talents.
    In his response, the President of the Nigeria Scrabble Federation Alhaji Suleiman Garba Gora thanked the sports ministry for supporting their trip to Kenya by giving the team the financial approval.
    “We are here to show appreciation and to inform you of the patriotism of these individuals who have made a lot of sacrifices while in camp for four months. We are making history for the second time since you were sworn in. This time, we went to Nairobi and did better than before in terms of national placement.
    “This is the first country in the world and the only black country to have won this championship back to back. We went there as the world champion in terms of country representation and also on individual basis.”
    54 countries took part in the championship with 169 players. In Scrabble, the top 15 players are considered for winning positions and Nigeria had 5 players on the list of top 15.
  • Dalung Re-opens National Stadium Swimming Pool today 

    Dalung Re-opens National Stadium Swimming Pool today 

    .Tasks Nigerian Swimmers  ahead of 2020 Olympic Games

    The  Minister of Youth and Sports Barrister Solomon Dalung, Dalung will   re-open  the newly renovated National Stadium swimming pool Complex situated at the National Stadium complex in Surulere, Lagos today. It  was fully renovated after 18 years of abandonment by successive governments.

    Meanwhile,  Dalung has charged Nigerian Swimmers to excel at the 2020 Olympic Games slated for Tokyo. 

    “Now, the Aquatic Federation will have no excuse when we ask them for updates about their activities towards presenting athletes for the 2020 Olympic Games. The world class facility is now at their beck and call for them to make use of. All they need is little logistics to organize local and national events where talents will be discovered and nurtured.”

    The Minister who will be in Lagos for the landmark occasion will be using the ceremony to declare open the 2nd West and Central African CANA Zone 2 Junior Swimming Championship at the renovated Olympic size swimming pool complex.

    Barrister Dalung praised the contractor, Joseph Odobeatu popularly known as O’Jez for his commitment and determination to execute the project at a time when the Federal Government could not immediately meet up with its own end of the bargain in realizing funds on time for the project.

    “I am indeed overwhelmed by the pace of work recorded since I assumed office. We are very happy that a national facility which was abandoned for 18 years has been completely renovated and now ready to be used for national and international competitions. The contractor Joseph Odobeatu has lived up to expectation and has defended his integrity. He may not have made monetary profit but money cannot buy the name he has made here,” Dalung said.

    The swimming complex which was in a dilapidated state for 18 years and rehabilitated comprises a state box, press gallery, changing rooms, warm up swimming pool, pumping and treatment machines, spectators stand and an entertainment stage.

    The Minister said the project will be counted as one of the achievements to mark President Muhammadu Buhari’s two years in office.

     

  • Dalung calls for radical reforms in criminal justice system

    Dalung calls for radical reforms in criminal justice system

    The Minister of Sports and Youth Development, Solomon Dalung has called for radical reform in the Nigerian criminal justice system.

    Dalung made the call on Saturday in Jos when he celebrated his 54th birthday with inmates of the Prison Command in Jos.

    The minister said the call became necessary to strengthen criminal justice and ensure justice to all accused.

    “There is need for radical reforms in our criminal justice delivery system.

    “You cannot keep somebody in prison for years without trial and at the end of the day, do justice to the person.

    “There is urgent need for speedy dispensation of cases in our courts, for justice to be done,” he said.

    Dalung, a former prison officer, advised prison inmates be of good behaviour when they eventually gain their freedom.

    The minister said that he would liaise with governors and Minister of Interior to ensure that prisoners that qualified for prerogative of mercy were released.

    “This will help give freedom to those that merit it and it will help decongest our prisons.

    “I will also leave a token with the records department so that those who are to be set free but couldn’t pay their fines are freed.

    He also donated a cow and toiletries among others to prisoners with a promise to provide sports facilities like footballs, jerseys, table tennis balls and nets for them.

    On the prisoners’ request for study centres at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) in the prisons, Dalung promised to discuss the issue with vice chancellor of the university.

    The Controller of the Command, Noel Ailewon, thanked Dalung for the gesture, saying that it would assist the inmates.

    Ailewon said that the visit was in line with what the holy scriptures admonished good believers to do, to visit prisoners.

    He appealed to the minister to talk with governors to exercise their prerogative of mercy in order to decongest the prisons.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the inmates trilled the minister with cultural dances and special birthday songs to add colour to the event.

  • Dalung urges NASS to revisit legislation  on tax rebate

    Dalung urges NASS to revisit legislation  on tax rebate

     

    The Minister of Youth and Sports Barrister Solomon Dalung has called on the National Assembly to revisit the Bill supporting tax waivers for investors in sports development.

    Barrister Dalung made the call when the Nigeria Hockey Federation led by its President Senator Abdul Ningi paid him a courtesy visit in Abuja.
    The bill, if passed and assented to will have a tax rebate for any company that supports sports. This is expected to generate funds for sports development while waiving a percentage of taxes paid by sponsors of sports development.

    “Elsewhere around the world, financial institutions pick athletes, adopt them and spend their money on the development of those athletes. We must have such traditions in Nigeria. Here, multinationals make billions in Nigeria and none of them plough back the interest or the profit of their investments into sports, yet, they put billions supporting sports in other countries. That is unacceptable and that is why I will lend my voice to call on the National Assembly to revisit that legislation which was concluded but did not receive the Presidential assent, because it is a desirable legislation for sports development. If we have that bill passed and assented to by Mr President, definitely sports development will be rapid and massive.”

    The Minister also commended the federation for bringing hockey back to life and for soliciting funding of their various programs.
    “Despite the challenges being faced by the federation, you have been able to make indelible landmarks as far Hockey is concerned in Nigeria and Africa . All that needs to be done is justice to other federations in Nigeria. Over the years we deliberately embarked on policies of elimination of other sports and this went down to even the elimination of institutional sports. This situation was compounded by the inequitable policy of only appropriating more funds to choice sports while others were abandoned to their fate. I want to assure you that having successfully conducted the elections of the National Federations we will move to equity and justice in sports administration.”

    Earlier, the President of the Nigerian Hockey Federation Senator Abdul Ningi said that since coming on board, the federation has been able to meet all their domestic competitions on the calendar.

    “We have taken part in the Super league, League One, National league and club competitions. In spite of the problems of funding, the federation members are still doing their best to ensure that we are always represented at competitions.”

    The Senator also solicited support for the upcoming Nations Cup competition billed for Egypt.

    “It is our flagship competition and its supposed to take place in August in South Africa but because of the international league that took place there, it was shifted to Egypt. Our ambition is to put back Nigerian hockey on the African continent and onto global limelight. The business organizations we have are not actually in tune with the reality of the situation in the country. Ghana, Kenya, Egypt and South Africa get endorsements from the private sector but in Nigeria, it is only football and basketball that they invest in and therefore we must do whatever we can to get the business sector to come up with how to move some sports forward.”

    He called on the Minister to assist the federation with sponsorship for the Nations Cup.

  • WAFU Final: Dalung leads Pinnick, others to watch Eagles play Ghana

    WAFU Final: Dalung leads Pinnick, others to watch Eagles play Ghana

    Minister of Youth and Sports Solomon Dalung will lead a delegation of top officials to cheer on the Super Eagles when they clash with Ghana’s Black Stars in Sunday’s WAFU Cup of Nations final.

    A statement from the Nigeria Football Federation ( NFF ) on Saturday said Dalung would be accompanied by the NFF President Amaju Pinnick.

    “Also in the delegation to the Cape Coast Stadium is NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, who arrived in the Ghanaian capital on Friday.

    “Super Eagles’ Technical Adviser Gernot Rohr also flew into Accra on Saturday and will be in the stands.

    “Head Coach of Super Eagles B, Salisu Yusuf is Chief Coach of the A team where Rohr is technical adviser,’’ it said.

    The statement also noted that Dalung has been an ever-present guest in Super Eagles’ most crucial matches in the past year.

    “He undisputable brings a rich vein of fortune around the team with the Eagles now only one win away from a sixth appearance in the FIFA World Cup finals,’’ it said.

    The minister led the Nigerian delegation to the 2-1 win over Zambia in Ndola at the start of the 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign.

    He was equally in Uyo for the 3-1 thrashing of Algeria.

    He was there in Uyo when the Eagles bashed African champions Cameroon 4-0 and also arrived in Yaounde in time to see the 1-1 draw three days later.

    To reach the championship match, the Super Eagles B, who qualified for the 5th African Nations Championship finals after a 2-1 aggregate win over Benin Republic in August, ejected Sierra Leone with a 2-0 win in the first knock-out phase.

    They also drew 0-0 with Mali and Guinea before seeing off hosts Ghana 2-0 in last group phase attrition.

    In the semi finals, CHAN qualifying victims Benin Republic were turned back 1-0, meaning Nigeria has yet to concede a goal in the sub-regional football fiesta.

    Sunday’s match will kick off at 6 p.m. Ghana time (7 p.m. Nigeria time), and victory for the Super Eagles will mean a seventh major trophy for the Pinnick-led administration.

    The administration’s first trophy was the Women Africa Cup of Nations title won by the Super Falcons in Namibia in Oct. 2014.

    It was followed by the Supers and Eagles’ triumph in the COPA Lagos International Invitational Tournament (December 2014) and the Flying Eagles’ Africa U-20 title in Senegal (March 2015).

    The latest being the Golden Eaglets’ FIFA U-17 World Cup in Chile (November 2015), the U-23 team’s Africa U-23 title in Senegal (December 2015) and the Super Falcons’ Women Africa Cup of Nations title in Cameroon (December 2016).

  • WAFU Cup: Dalung leads Pinnick, Rohr, others to Ghana

    WAFU Cup: Dalung leads Pinnick, Rohr, others to Ghana

    The Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung, will lead a delegation of top officials to cheer the Super Eagles in Sunday’s WAFU Cup of Nations final against the Black Stars of Ghana.

    A statement issued on Saturday by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) said Dalung would be accompanied on the trip by the NFF president, Amaju Pinnick.

    The statement reads: “Also in the delegation to the Cape Coast Stadium is NFF General Secretary, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi, who arrived in the Ghanaian capital on Friday.

    “Super Eagles’ Technical Adviser, Gernot Rohr, also flew into Accra on Saturday and will be in the stands.

    “Head Coach of Super Eagles B, Salisu Yusuf, is Chief Coach of the A team where Rohr is technical adviser.”

    The statement noted that Dalung has been ever-present in Super Eagles matches in the last one year.

    “He undisputedly brings a rich vein of fortune around the team with the Eagles now only one win away from a sixth appearance in the FIFA World Cup finals,’’ it added.

    NAN

     

     

  • Dalung to Buhari: Sack Alhassan over pro-Atiku comment

    Dalung to Buhari: Sack Alhassan over pro-Atiku comment

    The Minister of Sports, Barr. Solomon Dalung, has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to sack his Women Affairs and Social Development counterpart, Hajia Aisha Jummai Alhassan over her purported support for former Vice President Atiku Abubakar 2019 presidential bid.

    Dalung made the call on the Hausa Service of the Voice of America, saying, Alhassan should quit the cabinet before working against President Buhari.

    According to him, Alhassan’s action is an attempt to sink the ship of Buhari’s administration with all the people on board.

    He, however, said the best thing to do at the moment was to allow the All Progressive Congress (APC) candidate in Taraba 2015 governorship election to sink alone.

    He said: “It is not possible for us to be selling fuel and somebody will now come and say she wants to fry ‘Akara’ in the same place. That means, the person is looking for inferno and we won’t allow that.

    “Her comments will certainly make every Nigerian suspect that all of us in Buhari’s government are betrayers, simply because Jummai Alhassan is one of us. If she had wanted to be just to herself, she should have resigned her position.

    “Now that she has refused to resign, her case is like someone in canoe and wants it to capsize. So, the best thing to do is to drop her in the river to sink alone, since that is her hope.”

  • Benin seeks partnership with Nigeria on sports

    Benin seeks partnership with Nigeria on sports

    The Republic of Benin on Thursday in Abuja expressed its willingness to have a strong partnership with Nigeria in the area of youth and sports development.

    Ambassador Paulette Yekpe, the country’s Ambassador to Nigeria, said this was now necessary because the country was now laying a lot of emphasis on developing the youth and sports sector.

    Yekpe, during a courtesy call on Solomon Dalung, the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, said Republic of Benin has discovered that the youth and sports sub-sectors were inseparable.

    She said the objective of her visit was to discuss with the Nigerian Minister ways to strengthen the relationship between both countries, especially in the area of youth and sports development.

    “Our government is putting a lot of emphasis in the development of youth and sports, because it is difficult to disassociate one from the other.

    “We know the future of a nation lies with the youths and my main goal here is to do everything possible to strengthen the relationship between your ministry and that of Republic of Benin.

    “We see Nigeria as our big brother and we will like to get closer to you, so as to learn the secrets of your success in the area of youth and sports development in the country.

    “I have been in Nigeria for seven months now and I must tell you that apart from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Youths and Sports is the first I have visited.

    “That should speak volumes of the importance my country attaches to your ministry,” the ambassador said.

    Dalung, in his response, said he was overwhelmed by the ambassador’s visit, adding that the issue of youth and sports development was of utmost importance to the future of any nation.

    “I am highly overwhelmed by Her Excellency’s visit and this is because as Africans we believe in the spirit of brotherhood and fraternity.

    “While other classical philosophies depend solely on wealth and other economic relationships to determine the extent to which they relate with others, in Africa the greatest heritage we have is brotherhood.

    “We believe strongly in our relationship with our brothers and neighbours, and of course the Republic of Benin is one of the countries Nigeria has related with for a very long period of time.

    “I think it’s not a misplaced priority for your country to be eager to invest in youth and sports development, because there is no society that will make meaningful progress if it does not consider investing more in this area,’’ he said.

    The minister also said the level of development of today’s youths determines the quality of leaders of tomorrow.

    “So, if we want a better future we must give more attention to the younger generation.

    “Sadly, the challenging economic realities have made it impossible for most African countries to target youth and sports development effectively,’’ he pointed out.

    Dalung however expressed Nigeria’s desire to consolidate relationship with Benin in the area of youth and sports development, saying it would go a long way in tackling cross-border crimes.

    “I want to use this opportunity to congratulate you on your appointment and to also assure you that we will be ready to partner with you in the area of youth and sports development.

    “Even though there is an existing bilateral relationship between Nigeria and Benin, but we will with time also revisit this agreement and look at areas which require updating.

    “I believe this will go a long way in strengthening the national security of both countries and also limit migration as well as control cross-border crimes being perpetrated by our youths.

    “It will also help to create social stability, because it will strengthen and encourage young people in both countries to relate freely and above all strengthen their spirit of patriotism,” he said.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Republic of Benin are Nigeria’s west African neighbours.

  • Minister to govt agencies: stop rejecting Corps members

    Minister to govt agencies: stop rejecting Corps members

    The Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung, has frowned at the incessant rejection of Corps members by government agencies.

    Barrister Dalung who was reacting to the refusal of the Budget Office of the Federation to accept a Corps member from Rivers state who had been posted on primary assignment to the office in Abuja said such decisions were not in the interest of youth development and empowerment in the country.

    “Government agencies cannot reject Corps members. It is unacceptable. Why will government agencies reject corps members? Do you pay them or is that there is  no work to be done?” Dalung queried.

    The Minister reminded Government agencies and Parastatals that it is a government policy not to reject corps members posted to their offices.

    “The National Youth Service Corp scheme is a creation of the federal government and is intended to involve the country’s graduates in the development of the country. They are posted to states far from their states of origin intended for them to learn the culture of the indigenes in the place they are posted to. This is aimed at bringing about unity in the country and giving them an opportunity to learn about higher ideals of National achievement.”

    Dalung appealed to government agencies and private organisations to assist in absorbing Corps members so that they can be engaged positively nation building.

    “Rejecting corps members will add to the profile of unengaged youths which will create tension. Therefore, everybody is invited to join hands to assist our young people through entrepreneurship and empowerment programmes or anything that can gainfully engage them and create wealth for their livelihood and sustenance,” he said.