NSC sets up talents monitoring committee

The committee headed by Peter Nelson, the South West zonal coordinator of NSC has Philip Gidado, zonal coordinator South East zone as the Secretary as well as other zonal coordinators of the NSC and director of sports as members of the committee.

At the inauguration ceremony held at the National Olympic Committee board room in Lagos, by the Director General of the National Sports Commission, Dr. Patrick Ekeji, the committee was saddled with the responsibility of steering nation’s sports industry unto greater heights by ensuring good organization at the forthcoming National U-18 and Inter-Zonal Talent Hunt Competitions to be held before the end of the year.

Represented by Dr. Sunny Ikhioya, Director of Nigeria Institute for Sports (NIS), the Director General urged that they should see their appointment as opportunity to improve the standard of sports in the country adding that the idea is not to reposition sports for higher performance only, but to inject new and aspiring athletes into the culture of competitions after their discovery.

He acknowledged that everybody is quite aware of the dwindling fortunes of sports in Nigeria due to the recycling of same athletes who have been representing Nigeria for long while clamouring for their replacement in order to bounce back as giant of Africa.

“Every athlete discovered by NSC will be properly monitored to attain greater levels through the collective efforts to win medals for the country. They will be trained and sponsored in their educational careers while coaches that discover these athletes will be adequately rewarded for their efforts”, said Dr Ekeji.

In his response, Chairman of the Committee, Nelson pledged that the committee would discharge its duty effectively without any hindrances.

“We will make sure that the era of age cheats become things of the past as all the necessary machinery will be put in place to reward the diligent athletes that fall within the age brackets at the event”, said Nelson.