A three-day Olympic Soli
darity Advanced Management Course organised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for sports administrators began on Tuesday in Lagos with 30 participants.
The organisers said that the course, put together in collaboration with the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), is to prepare them for better adaptation to the objective of the Olympic Solidarity Itinerant School on sport administration.
The President of NOC, Habu Gumel, said that he was glad that the participants were senior officials of the various institutions who were responsible for sports matters in Nigeria.
“It is for the development of sports administration in Nigeria through the assistance of the Olympic Solidarity.
“The course is to offer NOC the opportunity to train sport administrators across the country.
“It is for NOC, the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the national federations and other sports bodies or volunteers who have the responsibility for managing projects in their organisations.
“This particular course is quite unique in the sense that this is the third time it is being organised in Nigeria,’’ said Gumel who was represented by Tony Ubani, the NOC spokesman.
He said that the IOC through the Olympic Solidarity was committed to promoting sports management globally.
“There is need for active collaboration in the efforts by all to ensure the programme succeeds in the states or organisations.
“This will enable Nigeria not be left out of emerging global trends in sports administration,’’ he said.
Gumel promised that the NOC would continue to work hard within the limits of its ability and resources to uplift the ideals of the Olympic Movement, especially in education.
“The IOC has been very influential through its continuous financial and logistics support which have enabled us to put programmes of this nature at the disposal of our sports administrators.
Also, the Secretary-General of NOC, Tunde Popoola, appealed to the participants to utilise the skills acquired by putting into practice what they learnt at the seminar.
“It will do us all good when we put into use what we learn. It’s of no use learning and not experimenting with it,’’ he said.
Tidesports reports that 2 members of the management staff of the Lagos State Sports Commission are taking part in the seminar holding at the Command Guest House, Apapa.
The seminar is being facilitated by Clement Fasan, a professor of Kinetics and Physical Education at the Lagos State University and Jonathan Dyajas of the Association of National Olympic Committees in Africa .