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Tag: Solomon Dalung

  • 19th National Sports Festival will hold this year — Dalung

    19th National Sports Festival will hold this year — Dalung

    The National Sports Festival (NSF), the country’s biennial multi-sports competition organised by the Federal Government will hold this year, the Minister of Youths and Sports Development, Solomon Dalung has said.

    The Minister made the disclosure on Friday in Makurdi at an interactive forum with the Executive Council of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN), Benue Chapter.

    He said that budgetary allocation for the hosting of the festival was made this year.

    According to the minister, such festival serves as a development and training event to assist athletes to prepare for continental and international meets.

    “The NSF is supposed to be an avenue where youths will showcase their skills,’’ he said.

    The minister noted that the event was also important for Nigerian’s preparations for Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

    The Minister said that it was now left for the National Sports Commission to determine where and when it will hold.

    “They will ensure that all the facilities for the event were ready before the festival,’’ he said.

    Dalong said the festival for some years was billed to take place in Calabar, the Cross River capital in 2014 but had suffered several postponements.

    The festival is supported by the National Sports Commission for athletes from the 36 States of Nigeria.

    The festival started in 1973 at the National Stadium, Surulere in Lagos, involves all indoor and outdoor sports, and was originally conceived as a “unifying tool’’.

    It has as its main purpose, the promotion of peace and cross-cultural affiliation in Nigeria after the Nigerian Civil War in 1970.

  • National Assembly to direct Dalung, to relocate office to Stadium

    National Assembly to direct Dalung, to relocate office to Stadium

    Hon Abdulkabir Ajanah member representing Adavi/Okehi Federal constituency at the House of Representatives said the National Assembly are seriously deliberating to make the sports minster, Solomon Dalung relocate his office to the National Stadium complex.

    Ajanah in Okene said the plans is to make the minister take care of sporting facilities that are on the verge of decaying.

    “For us at the National Assembly, I believe we are trying to draw the attention of Solomon Dalung, sports minster to move his office from the comfort of the federal Secretariat to the stadium in order to take charge of the facilities “.

    ” The equipment were bought with tax payers monies and members of the house of Reps cannot continue to fold their hands any longer ” Ajanah said.

    ” If you go to the National Stadium most facilities and equipment are in a sorry state. I think the first direction is for us to appreciate the facilities we have before we embark on sporting developmental programs” the house of Reps member explained.

    He said the house of Representatives members will take their time to encourage youths in harnessing potentials from the grassroots to attract more prolific achievements in Nigeria sports.

  • Buhari should sack Dalung now – The Nation poll

    Buhari should sack Dalung now – The Nation poll

    Respondents in The Nation online poll have asked President Muhammadu Buhari to sack without delay, the controversial Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung, who has been in the eye of the storm lately over his woeful performance in office.

    From his poor handling of the leadership crisis in the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to the shameful neglect of the country’s contingent to last year’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the Jos- born minister caused another controversy sometimes in October last year when he advised President Buhari not to approve the country’s participation in the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

    And just last month, he further surprised a stunned nation by saying his ministry did not make provisions for the Super Falcons’ participation in the African Women Championship (AWC) in Cameroon because “nobody believed in the team’s chances of winning the competition.”

    The team later surprised Dalung and his fellow journeymen in the sports ministry by winning a record eighth AWC in the Central African nation.

    Following that controversial outburst, many Nigerians have been asking the President to remove the man they described as the “worst sports minister” in the nation’s history, from his cabinet.

    In a poll topic – “Should the Sports Minister be retained in office?” posted on our website – www.staging.thenationonlineng.net, a total of 3, 087 respondents gave their opinion on the matter.

    The readers had the option of picking Yes, No and I don’t care. They also have the opportunity of posting comments on the topic.

    Obviously disappointed by the minister’s “very poor” performance in office, 2, 489 people, representing 81 per cent of the total respondents, asked President Buhari to show him the exit door during the next cabinet reshuffle.

    384 voters or 12 per cent of the total respondents asked him to be retained.

    The remaining 204 voters, just seven per cent of the total respondents, said “I don’t care.”

     

     

     

  • Sport federations get a week to summit 2017 programmes

    Sport federations get a week to summit 2017 programmes

    Solomon Dalung, Minister of Youth and Sports on Friday directed sports federations to submit their programmes for 2017 within the first week of the year.

    Dalung, in his New Year message to Nigerians, said the early submission would give room for proper planning.

    “All federations, including the NFF, should avail the ministry of their programmes for 2017 to enable the government to scrutinise and plan for intervention appropriately.

    “Failing to do so in time will mean forfeiting contingent arrangements for those programmes and federations should not fall back to blackmail the government.

    “In the New Year, we are looking at sports with high hopes. We are hopeful that the potentials in sports will be unbundled for the benefit of the teeming youths.

    “Therefore, all hands must be on deck to achieve’’, he said.

    Dalung said Federal Government was determined to continue with its current drive to sanitise the sports sector to make it more viable and credible to investors

    He said the sector recorded successes in 2016 that could be improved upon in 2017.

    Dalung said measures would be put in place in the new year to ensure transparency in sports.

    “We recorded achievements in the Olympics and Paralympic Games in 2016. We have also improved in our football and basketball rankings by FIFA and FIBA.

    “With federal government’s timely financial intervention, the Super Eagles have been able to start their World Cup campaign on a very strong footing with two victories recorded.

    “We must also thank President Muhammadu Buhari for paying special attention to the Super Eagles and Super Falcons following the recent payment of all outstanding allowances and bonuses despite the current economic situation.

    “We hosted and discovered new talents from the National Youth Games in Ilorin despite the paucity of funds but these can be improved upon with an increased budgetary allocation for sports in 2017’’, he said.

    Dalung said that despite the successes recorded in football recently, it was unfortunate that the audit report in which NFF was indicted by FIFA was to dent Nigeria’s image.

    “The policy direction of the ministry is that we will stop at nothing to preserve the image of Nigeria. Nigerians should also know the determination of government on issues of accountability, especially the FIFA audit report.

    Dalung wished Nigerians prosperous New Year, adding that some of the challenges of sports in 2016 were paucities of funds, sponsorship, transparency and accountability.

  • Federal Government orders NFF account audit

     

    The Minister of Youth and Sports Barrister Solomon Dalung says he is yet to receive a report of an audited account of the Nigeria Football Federation.

    Barrister Dalung had directed the NFF to appoint an independent auditor to look into the books of the federation and also provide minutes of nomination by the Congress of its President,  Mr Amaju Pinnick to vie for a CAF seat during its Congress on Sunday.

    ” I received a communique of the Congress which referred to my action as uninformed. Instead of providing me with the minutes, the Congress went ahead to endorse its president, two weeks after its Secretary General had sent a letter of his nomination to CAF”

    The Minister emphasized that government was yet to nominate anybody to contest for the CAF seat.

    “The Ministry of Youth and Sports wants to make it clear that Nigeria has not endorsed anybody to contest. The Ministry will constitute a committee to screen and recommend to government, a suitable candidate who will represent Nigeria”.

    Barrister Dalung also stated that since the Federation has failed to appoint an independent auditor to audit the accounts of the federation, government has no option than to embark on a full scale investigation of those issues raised at the congress.

    “FIFA’s forensic audit has raised concerns about documentation of the federation’s accounts. 19 grave issues were identified in FIFAs audit report which needs to be looked into. The federal government has already set machinery in motion  to embark on a full scale investigation of those issues.

    “We are committed to getting rid of all obstacles capable of destroying probity, credibility, transparency and accountability in sports administration in Nigeria” the Minister said.

  • 2016 Sports Ministry budget yet to be released – Dalung

    2016 Sports Ministry budget yet to be released – Dalung

    Barely two weeks to the end of 2016, the Minister of Sports, Solomon Dalung, on Tuesday said the 2016 budget for the ministry has not been released.

    Dalung, however, said President Muhammadu Buhari has been augmenting the ministry spending.

    He added that there were plans to send in a supplementary bill to the National Assembly.

    President Buhari had last week submitted the 2017 appropriation bill to the National Assembly for consideration.

    The minister, who spoke at a town hall meeting in Abuja, blamed the challenges in the sector for the zero budgeting in 2016.

    Dalung said the ministry has started thinking outside the box to ensure it raises money to run its affairs.

    He added that the ministry has learnt from its past and would always avoid what would cause embarrassment to the country.

     

     

  • Dalung assures concession of National Stadium in progress

    Dalung assures concession of National Stadium in progress

    The paucity of funds has slowed down the concession of the National Stadium, Lagos. This information was revealed by the Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung in Lagos.

    He stated that the approval for the concession of the stadium was inherited by his ministry but lamented that the machinery was not set in motion.

    He also said that hope was not lost as the concession was at the point of appointment of a Transactional Adviser and funding.

    “We have funds that we are applying for empowerment because, in the 2016 budget, there was no provision for it, so we want intervention from the government, but the government has said for now they don’t have funds and we don’t want the process to end.

    “So, we have applied for funds for the process so that we can have funds which were allocated earlier for renovation and deploy it to the concession process.

    “We have gotten so many people who have declared an interest, their profile is indeed rich enough and they have even given us an idea of what they intend to put in place but our agreement has been that it is not only the national stadium.

    “Whosoever is coming into the concession arrangement will take the adjoining land too and must develop it alongside the national stadium by building either a five-star hotel there and bars around it before you will talk about the national stadium.

    “So that we don’t come and pick the nation stadium alone and then run back into the same situation we are trying to come out of.

    “If we succeed in getting the funds, we will be moving ahead with the issue of the concession and it may be within the year or early next year,’’ he said.

    On the swimming pool at the National Stadium, Lagos that has been rehabilitated, he noted that everything was almost over and remained just final touches.

    “The issue of the funding situation needs to be solved so that we can do the final touch and hand it over for use because it cannot be commissioned twice but it’s been difficult since we don’t have funds.

    “But of late, I have been informed that the money is available and if it is, we will discharge the contractor and take over the swimming pool.

    “We intend to hand over the swimming pool to somebody that will manage it so that it is not left to us government again for it to go back to the same situation.

    “Whosoever is managing it will be generating funds, paying us and also generating his money from the process before the entire process of concession. I think that is the unfortunate solution that has to do with the swimming pool.

  • Falcons: I was misquoted – Dalung

    Falcons: I was misquoted – Dalung

    The Minister of Sports, Solomon Dalung on Friday recounted his remarks concerning the non-preparedness of the government for the victorious Falcons that won the African Women’s Cup of Nations (AWCON) trophy last Saturday.

    In an interview with State House correspondents on Thursday, the Minister had said: “Don’t forget that nobody even knew the team would emerge victorious, if we were confident they will emerge victorious, all the Federation would have done is to plan for process of participation and entitlement.”

    But Dalung on Friday claimed that he was misquoted.

    He said: “May I conclude by trying to put into proper perspective an impression that has made national headlines to the effect that the Federal Government was not anticipating the victory of the Falcons and so could not have planned for it.

    “This statement was attributed to myself. I want to categorically state that this is a statement taken out of context. And I cannot imagine or reconcile how … The commitment of the federal government to the support of the Falcons is indeed overwhelming.

    “That explains why the Vice President himself had to abandon his tight schedule to visit the players in camp that is evidence of preparations for victory.

    “The federal government was prepared because it has records of the antecedents of the performance of the players. The challenges we have today which has to do with their welfare is being given attention.

    “We are working around the clock to see how to raise fund to address the issue of their bonuses,” he stated.

  • Dead NYSC member’s body to be exhumed for autopsy

    Dead NYSC member’s body to be exhumed for autopsy

    The Minister of Sports, Solomon Dalung has disclosed that the Federal Government will exhume the corpse of a 2016 batch B National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member, Miss Ifedolapo Oladepo, who died at the Kano Orientation Camp.

    The minister spoke with State House correspondents on Thursday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    While claiming that the report given by the NYSC was normal and natural, he said that the investigation ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday would require an autopsy of the late corps member who had already been buried.

    “After investigation, they must present their own report on what has happened. But in view of the fact that there are many versions on what led to the death of the NYSC member, it would be fair to look at another version of what happened to be sure of what actually transpired.

    “It doesn’t have to do with not trusting the process; but gauge the report alongside other opinion, then, we will now be able to tell Nigerians that this is the circumstance on how she died.

    “Don’t forget that the report of the NYSC has no autopsy and an independent investigation will require an autopsy and now the autopsy alongside the report will balance and it will fortify the conclusion the government will make,” he said.

  • NSF: Athletes protest ‘no show’

    NSF: Athletes protest ‘no show’

    …Blame sports ministry, Cross River  govt

    Nigerian athletes staged a protest at the National Stadium, Surulere yesterday, to express their displeasure with the Sports Ministry and the Cross River State government’s failure to organise the National Sports Festival for the past four years.

    The Festival, which was initially slated for Cross River state, had suffered postponements as a result of claims that the state could not afford to host the event as earlier promised by them.
    Most of the athletes carried different placards at the stadium, with different inscriptions such as: ‘Honorable Minister please do the needful’, ‘we want the National Sports Festival next year’,  ‘Sports is a means of  survival, don’t kill it’, ‘Don’t send us back to the streets’, ‘Host the National Sports Festival now’ and many more.
    One of the athletes, Alex Adewale, who spoke with NationSport, said that the failure to host the event could breed more criminals in the society.
     He said: “If people are involved in sports, crime will reduce, there will be nothing like Boko Haram, I want sports minister to know this is an avenue for some people to enrich their lives, to make daily bread, to feed their family. For the past 5 years we haven’t heard anything about the sports festival, we want to know what is happening to our sports, we want the ministry to tell us so that we will know where we belong to” said Adewale.
    “Meanwhile, it has been alleged that with the new dispensation, the National Sports Festival had been in limbo. In the same vein, the state is owing athletes who participated in the 2014 edition of the Obudu International Mountain race prize monies which might result in sanctions from the World Mountain Race Organisation.
    “However, the Minister for Youths and Sports, Solomon Dalung stated in a chat with NationSport, that a committee will sit next year to determine when the festival will hold.”