We have no problem with NSC budget - Reps

30.11.2007

Werder's Daniel Jensen, left, and Real's
Mahamadou Diarra challenge for the ball during a
UEFA Champions League Group C match between
Werder Bremen and Real Madrid in Bremen on
Wednesday. Bremen won 3-2.AP Photo

The House of Representatives Committee on Sports said on Thursday in Abuja that it had no problem with the 2008 budget submitted to it for consideration by the National Sports Commission (NSC).

The committee’s chairman, Alhaji Mohammed Bello, made the remarks in Abuja, while the chairman of NSC, Barrister Abdulrahman Gimba, was defending the budget.

Bello explained that the committee had no problem with the NSC, rather it was interested in working out ways of enhancing its performance since Nigerians from all walks of life had the passion for sports.

Earlier, the NSC chairman had told the parliamentarians that the 2008 budget was tailored towards achieving the federal government’s objective of taking sports in Nigeria to the global level.

“NSC is a vital organ of government because of the strategic importance of sports in laudering the country’s image and placing it on the global scale. “Sports is important for national cohesion and it’s the only single event that unites all Nigerians, irrespective of race, tribe or religious sentiments,” Gimba said.

He explained that the budget was also tailored towards the actualisation of self reliance in the NSC, adding that the commission had embarked on an aggressive revenue drive, to reduce its dependence on government.

Responding to a suggestion by Hon. Igo Aguma, a member of the Committee, the NSC chairman explained that the commission had mapped out strategies on how best to utilise all national stadia, in line with government’s policy of private public partnership.

He sought the committee’s support on a bill to be proposed by the NSC on the need to involve the tax institutions to mandate the private sector to contribute to sports development.

Aguma had advised the NSC to always aggregate funds for stadia renovation ahead of important global competitions such as the FIFA U-17 World Cup slated for Nigeria in 2009.