By Wale Ajayi
Fifteen of Nigeria’s finest pen pushers joined the long list of sportswriters to benefit from the magnanimity of the sports ministry, under the able leadership of Chief Sunday Dare.
Never in history have sports writers enjoyed such cordial relationships with the apex sports governing body in the land. In the recent past, a selected few were handpicked and blessed at intervals but all that has changed since 2019, with the coming of Sunday Dare, a former journalist who understands the need to give priority to media men and women because of the role they play in nation building.
The latest beneficiaries from the ministry’s largesse were carefully selected from top media outfits in Lagos state, Rivers state and the federal capital territory. They were all mobilized by the Ministry to go support the Super Eagles in Kumasi and help spread the news of their performance to the world.
The ministry of youth and sports development is committed to making the Nigeria media, especially members of the sports writers association of Nigeria, SWAN, partners in progress. The minister also sees the media as the perfect tool to promote the youth empowerment programme, a project that is designed to provide small loans to support Nigeria youths with business initiatives to expand.
Since assumption of office in 2019, the ministry has maintained a very cordial relationship with the media and has made sure that the media is carried along in all it’s activities.
For the match in Kumasi, fifteen sports journalist were offered an all expense paid trip. Also, at the last Nations cup in Cameroon, more than sixty sports journalists benefitted from the ministry’s purse.
Same love was shown to journalists during the National Youth games in Ilorin, the Kwara state capital, the recent National sports festival in Edo state and the 2020 Olympic games in Tokyo, Japan.
