Nigeria concentrating on areas of strength
Chief Ekeji’s second coming into the National Sports Commission (NSC) of Nigeria where he has now risen to the position of Director-General may be the tonic the country needs to join the league of countries which maximise their potentials to rank high on the medal table.
With a new sports minister/Chairman of the NSC, Engineer Sani Ndanusa, a man who has been in sports and knows what it takes to do well in competitions, Chief Ekeji has mapped the road-map for the NSC to follow in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in India, the 2011 All Africa Games as well as the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
For these Games as well as the World Championships in the various sports, the NSC has picked six sports namely Athletics, Weightlifting, Wrestling, Para-sports (athletics, power-lifting & wheel chair tennis), Boxing and Taekwondo to concentrate on.
Towards this end therefore, the NSC has initiated a reward system for athletes, coaches and States Sports Council administrators of these sports. This include payment of several thousands of dollars for gold, silver and bronze as well as the benchmark amount for each of the category.
(By Patrick Omorodion)