Mistrust, Cause Of Low Response To Sponsorship Drive – Bio

Corporate bodies’ reluctance to respond to sponsorship drives by Nigeria’s sports federations is largely due to their mistrust on how the funds would be used.

The Minister of Sports, Alhaji Isa Bio, said this in Lagos this week during his maiden visit to the National Stadium.

Bio, who is also the Chairman of the National Sports Commission (NSC), said that steps would be taken to restore the confidence of the sports partners.

He said drastic steps would be taken to ensure public funds were properly handled by sports officials.

He disclosed that he would soon send the recommendation of the probe panel, which investigated the missing 236,000 dollars from the coffers of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), to Acting President Goodluck Jonathan.

He said he would carry out whatever he was asked to do on the matter by the Acting President.

He announced plans to convene a summit to address the problems militating against sports development in the country, adding it would look into short, medium and long-term planning for sports in Nigeria.

He said the proposed summit would not be a talk shop but a gathering of all sports stakeholders, who would design a blueprint for the development of sports in the country.

He acknowledged that Nigeria was blessed with abundant human resources in the field of sports but it had not been reflected in the country’s performance in recent years in international competitions.

He noted that the country’s ageing sportsmen and women were not being replaced as fast as they should.