Nigerian Sports Federations Get Autonomy

Nkem Nneka Anibeze, the spokesperson for the Nigerian sports minister, Solomon Dalung, on Thursday announced that the over 30 sports associations under the control of the ministry will be granted autonomy.

She made the announcement through her twitter handle. The message reads: “Breaking! Ministry of Youths and Sports to grant autonomy to sports federations.”

There was no detail about when the autonomy will be granted and what it also means to the sports federations.

An aspiring member of one of the federations remarked that the ‘autonomy’ may imply that government will no long fund the sports bodies as they will have to source for money to run their operations.

The associations may also have to hire and pay for their secretaries. Anibeze also announced that the Nigerian National Sports Festival which had not held since the last edition in Lagos five years ago will hold after the elections to the various sports associations in June. The festival is slated for Calabar, the capital of Cross River State in the south eastern part of the country.

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The festival traditional holds every two years but has suffered several postponements. According to the tweet by Anibeze in her twit quoted the sports minister as remarking that Calabar has proved beyond reasonable doubts that it is able to host the festival.