A LETTER TO HONOURABLE MINISTER SUNDAY DARE BY IFEOLUWA

Dear Minister Sunday Dare, You Delivered and Nigerians Celebrate Your Strenght of Purpose

I have taken time to read and have a proper grasp of the backroom job responsible for the astonishing achievement of our Athletes.

You can NEVER take out the efforts of Sunday Dare from this WIN. He was very intentional and put in the work that produced the awe-inspiring results we are all celebrating today.

Allow me break this down:

ADOPT-AN-ATHLETE INITIATIVE 

Launched in December 2019 at the Lagos Civic Centre.

Before this launch, consultations with athletes and Federations Nationwide were carried out to find the root cause of the challenges athletes faced which impeded their performances at the Regional and World Stages.

Unavailability  of Funding/Grants

Unavailability of Scholarships 

Inadequate Support amongst other challenges were established.

A lot of them didn't have enough income to survive. They spent a lot of time trying to earn a living rather than spend time to further develop their skills.

Giving them financial support would make a difference. Their profile spoke for them and made them marketable.

Once the initiative kicked off, 

some home based athletes now gets as much as $10,000 paid directly into their accounts and managed solely by them. Some use it to pay for their coaches, kits, nutrition, health insurance etc. 

Foreign based athletes now earn $20,000 due to the fact that they definitely have a higher overhead.

It is worthy of note that a number of State Governors were very supportive:

Delta

Edo

Ogun

Lagos

Bayelsa all embraced this initiative and supported our Athletes.

Kudos to the Corporate World who also embraced the Athletes.

Fidelity Bank

Zenith Bank 

UBA Bank

Access Bank

All made a difference. 

38 Athletes in total are beneficiaries of the Adopt-An-Athlete initiative. 

PRE-COMMONWEALTH GAMES

Three months before the Commonwealth, Twenty-One(21)meetings were held at various levels just to make sure all bases were covered. 

Now, this is active preparation and being deliberate about your goals.

AFN did very well in working with the Athletes.

Coaches and Technical crew were also fantastic. They did an amazing backroom job.

Nine (9) games where Nigeria ranked amongst the Top Fifty (50) worldwide were chosen for us to participate so we could maximize our strenght. 

WHAT ELSE DID MINSTER S.D DO DIFFERENTLY?

Athlete's allowances, bonuses and award money must be available 48 hours before their game. Before most athletes competed in their games, they had their allowances readily available to them. Some allowances were increased and new bonuses activated.

There is now readiness check-boxes for all Games where Nigeria will be represented. 

Due to unavailability of funds, Four (4) out of  Nine (9) Championships were chosen because of funds. It is better to go for the Games that can assure our athletes are taken care of 100%.

Issues now have timely interventions.

SOME REMARKABLE RESULTS 

Beyond the Gold Medals, looking at the statistics, what the men  achieved was last achieved 27years ago. What the women achieved was last achieved 30years ago.

So many Records smashed

Glass Ceilings Shattered

New Records Set- We set FOUR new Games Record!!!

We set a World Record 

We had the BEST Outing Ever in the history of our Commonwealth participation.

We competed in only 9 Sports at the Commonwealth.....Yet, we came out as the BEST in Africa and 7th in the World.

POST EVENT FEEDBACK 

Minster Sunday Dare has promised they will mine the data from our past events. The Ministry will then proceed to sit with Athletes through the Federation, seek programs to support them and see what other support can be given.

President Buhari has approved the first Sports University in Nigeria. 

Another icing on the cake is National Sports Industry now has a Policy that has RECLASSIFIED Sports as Business and no longer as Recreation. 

This policy will deliver a working plan between Private Sectors and The Federal Government. 

This way, the funds the Ministry doesn't have can easily be made up for.

The future is bright for our Athletes 😍

The future is bright for Nigeria 🇳🇬🤩💪🏾

Nigeria is taking its rightful place in the World.

©️Ifeoluwa