The Secretary General of the Paraolympic Committee of Nigeria, Suleiman Isah, has called on the Niger State government to set up the state’s own sports commission.CONTINUE FULL READING>>>>>
Isah said a sports commission will indicate that the Niger State Government was set to key into President Bola Tinubu’s New Hope Agenda, noting that the Federal Government had only recently transformed the Federal Ministry of Sports Development into the National Sports Commission.
Isah made this known in a chat with Arewa PUNCH wheŕe he further disclosed that the residents of the state needed to own their sports commission, noting that it is a good development
“Last month, we were in Niger State. We got the good news that the people of Niger State are demanding for the Niger State Sports Commission which is a good development and it is a sign that the Niger State government wants to key into the New Hope Agenda because the Federal Government had just transformed the Federal Ministry of Sports Development to the National Sports Commission.
“When weame here, we found out that what the Niger State government is trying to do is a replica of what is happening at the federal level, and we are very glad about it.
“Fortunately, again for us, we were at the public hearing at the Niger House of Assembly where the Paraolympic Committee, represented by my humble self who happens to be an indigene of Niger State made a good presentation and our presentation was that when eventually the bill is passed and the Niger State Governor, Governor Mohammed Bago accents to the bill, a board is formed we made a position that stakeholders in Paraolympic sports should be among those who will chair the commission in the state, Isah said
The Paraolympic scribe who is also the President of Nigerian Wheelchair Rugby Federation and the Second Vice President of the Confederation of African Amputees explained that chairing the commission in the state would mean becoming a member of the executive board that will take care of the affairs of all the sports in the state including the people with disabilities
Thus, Isah made a case for the representation of a member of the paraolympic sports to be on the executive board of the sports commission that will take care of the affairs of all the sports in the state, stressing that “the people with disabilities who are into sports will know that they have a representation of someone who is highly experienced in the Paraolympic movement.”
Lamenting the neglect of disability sports in the state, Isah said they want to involve disable people who will involve sports and education.
“Ours is the adaptive sports. What we mean by adaptive sports is that we are only after people with disabilities who want to combine education and sports. We make sure that those in the disabilities sports community are people who are ready to further their education
“They must be able to marry education and sports, and if this bill is passed and signed into law, it will help us to control this sport disabilities to marry their sporting activity with their education. That is the major reason why we are calling on the Niger State government to come to our aid to make sure that this bill is passed and the people in the sport disability community have a very good representation and are well catered and taken care of,” he said
Isah appealed to Governor Mohammed Bago to hasten the passage of the sports commission bill into law, saying that the disability sports community in the state enjoys a sense of inclusion in the governance of the state
“When eventually the bill is passed and the Niger State Governor, Governor Mohammed Bago accents to the bill, board is formed we made a position that stakeholders in Paraolympic sports should be among those who will chair the commission in the state.
“We are appealing that the Niger State government should assist in hastening the passage of the bill. Though the bill has gone through the First reading, it has gone through second reading, it has gone through public hearing, it is now waiting for the third reading and in legislative practice once it gets to the third reading that is when the bill will be passed. So, we are calling on 8the Niger State government to assist in hastening the signing of the bill and for the governor to sign the bill into law because we know that the people within the sports disability community will benefit more.
“We are lagging behind in Niger State. We are lagging behind in Paraolympic sports. I, who happens to be the secretary of the Paraolympic Movement in Nigeria, I am also from this state, but anytime I am taking athletes to Paraolympic games. Take for example, the last Paraolympic games in France when Nigeria got medals even when our able bodies could not win medals, we won medals and I felt sad when we were going with athletes and we could not find even one athlete from Niger State and in the whole of Northern Nigeria, representing the country in Paraolympic sports.
“And this is the region where you have a lot of disabled people. These disabled people should be able to have an opportunity to create visibility for themselves through sports. And we believe that if this commission is formed, this is another avenue where the people of the state can benefit. So, we are calling on the Niger State government to assist in the passage of the bill and signing the bill into law,” Isah said.CONTINUE FULL READING>>>>>
