Sports: Olympian Tasks Govt On Equity

Emmanuel Peters, a former Olympian who was at the 1992 Barcelona Games recently urged the government to give equal attention to each sport, to ensure even development.

Peters told Tidesports in Lagos that such a move would enhance the general performance of the country’s athletes in their various disciplines.

“There is the need for government to give equal attention to all the sports, in order to encourage athletes to perform well in international competitions.

“If other sports can get half of the funds channelled into football by our government, the country will certainly win more medals in competitions,’’ he said.

He urged the incoming board members of the country’s sports federations to embark on an aggressive marketing drive to woo viable sponsors to fund their programmes.

“The federations should be proactive in their drive for sponsors to run their programmes for them,’’ he said.

Tidesports reports that the sports federations are on the verge of conducting elections, sometime in April, according to electoral guidelines from the National Sports Commission (NSC).