ABUJA – The Minister of Sports Tammy Danagogo said on Tuesday that the sports sector had achieved a lot in spite the challenges the country faced in recent time.
Danagogog made the remark when he received Tanzanian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Daniel Njooley, who was in the minister’s office to seek Nigeria’s support in sports development.
He noted that the visit of the High Commissioner was an indication that Nigeria still ranked the best sporting nation in Africa.
“We are making giant strides; you can see other countries coming to find out our secret.
“If we have not made any giant stride, you think they will come to seek our help and the reason we are succeeding?
“Certainly, we are doing well,’’ Danagogo said.
The minister listed the FIFA Under-17 World Cup and the FIFA Under-20 Women silver won by the country as some of its greatest achievement in recent time.
He also highlighted Nigeria’s eight place finish at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland as another milestone in the country sports, adding that the sector would continue to progress.
“I don’t want to talk about history; I want to talk about what is happening now.
“Look at competitions in the last two years; Commonwealth Games and the Africa Youth Games, only South Africa can be said to be competing with us.
“At the 2014 Commonwealth Games, they were just a step ahead of us; we won more medals but they got more gold than we got, so we came second to them.
“Even in Marrakech Morocco, at the Africa Youth Games we came second to them, but by the time you add football, we will be ahead of them,’’ he said. [eap_ad_1] The minister further said that Nigeria’s second round achievement at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil was another feat that placed it ahead of South Africa.
“So, if you add football to athletics, certainly Nigeria is ahead,’’ he added.
Njooley, who responded on behalf of Tanzanian government, said his country needed Nigeria’s cooperation to excel in sports.
He noted that the cooperation was expected to manifest in terms of facility and athletes development as well as management.
The High Commissioner said Tanzania would be appreciative if its sports sector could develop blossom like Nigeria’s football teams. (NAN)
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