The headquarters of the Africa Beach Soccer Union, ABSU, has been officially commissioned in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja ,Nigeria.
Tidesports source reports that the NFF President and member of the FIFA Council, Mr Amaju Pinnick, who was represented by the General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, was impressed, having donated the offices earlier in 2020, pledging more support for the young continental body.
An elated Dr Sanusi, commended the ABSU President, Mahmud Hadejia, and his team for the giant strides in promoting beach soccer in Nigeria and Africa as a whole.
“I remember receiving members of the body some time ago at our secretariat and they shared their vision with us, which made us support them with these office spaces. I’m glad today we are here to commission the offices. It shows how dedicated and focused they are,” Sanusi stated.
Dr Sanusi also used the occasion to applaud the Nigeria Beach Soccer Association for seeing through its first league season successfully, which was wrapped up in July earlier in the year, maintaining that with the commencement of a privately driven Nigeria Beach Soccer League (NBSL), there is hope on the horizon for the return of the Nigeria Beach Soccer National team at the international scene.
“You will recall Nigeria was doing very well in beach soccer, but all of a sudden we started dwindling and the problem was traced to lack of a functional league. That was why we put a hold on our participation in international events and said we must start our local league. With a functional local league, now I can assure you that we will go and sit down at our level (NFF) to review our stand (on Super Sand Eagles) so that we can resume participation in international beach soccer again,” he said.
Sanusi pledged to work more closely with the association and ABSU to promote the game in Nigeria and Africa.
Earlier, ABSU President Mahmud Hadejia, said the aim of the continental body was to promote and develop a strong beach soccer culture and league across Africa.
He said the commissioning of the headquarters in Abuja will go a long way in fast-tracking the development of the game.
“Today is historic for stakeholders of beach soccer across Africa, because we have been pushing for a functional headquarters for a long time as this will help facilitate the needed growth of the game in Africa,” Hadejia said.
Similarly, the Chairman of the Nigeria Beach Soccer Association, Suleiman Yahaya-Kwande, in his remarks, said the association will continue to work round the clock to improve the beach soccer league in Nigeria.
Recall the Africa Beach Soccer Union was formed in 2020, with its members across the continent, who are key players in their respective national federations.
While the event was streamelined for members across Africa, who joined the historic event, present at the commissioning alongside Dr Sanusi were NFF executive committee member and Chairman of the Nigeria Beach Soccer Association and Hon. Suleiman Yahaya Kwande; the President of the Nigeria Volleyball Federation/Chairman Kaduna Beach Soccer Association, Engineer Musa Nimrod; representative of Chairman Wacot Rice Ltd a subsidiary of Tropical General Investments Group.