NIGERIA

Sporting chance for jobless athletes

The State Government of Niger is set to recruit jobless athletes to work in the Public Service.
   Commissioner for Sports, Alhaji Hassan Abdullahi confirmed that athletes who represented the country at the 18th National Sports Festival in 2012 would be eligible to join the public sector.
   “We have finalised arrangements to employ athletes, who represented us at the last National Sports Festival in Lagos,” Mr Abdullahi said.
   “The gesture is to boost their morale to do more and encourage upcoming ones.”
   He said the recruitment plans had progressed to the stage where “very soon Governor Babangida Aliu will present letters of appointment and cheques to the athletes”.
   He said the Ministry of Sport would look to collaborate with the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to support the new recruits and help take the Ministry forward.
   State Commandant of the NSCDC, Donatus Ikemefuna said he ultimately supported the plans and had expected for some time that the Ministry would place more emphasis on recruiting “men and women who are into sports”.
   Mr Ikemefuna said sportsmen and women who served the public sector would be given access to every facility available to continue developing themselves as athletes while also being given the opportunity to contribute to policy making to take the country forward.
   “In our next recruitment, we are going to emphasise on sportsmen and women before considering others,” Mr Ikemefuna said.
   “We want to produce more of such men and women in Niger, but unfortunately we lack sports facilities.”

Minna, 23 January 2013
Edition 346, 29 January 2013
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