BY ADELU PRAISE DEBORAH
Rugby League has the potential to advance the sport’s economy as well as unleash talents that would boost the nation’s quest to be a global sports talent market.
This was the view of Mallam Shehu Dikko while hosting the Australian High Commissioner to Nigeria Her Excellency Leilani Bin-Juda (PSM). Her Excellency Bin-Juda was in the company of a delegation of the Rugby League on a mission to invest in rugby League development in Africa with Nigeria as the hub.
To this end, the Commission will support the Rugby League’s development in the country.
His words, “We are here to provide the enablers and opportunities for every sport to thrive within the context of its comparative advantage. We have clearly identified the Rugby League as one sport with the huge potential to go to the entire grassroots and ecosystem of sports in this country driving mass participation. We will want to collaborate with the promoters of the Rugby League in Nigeria to see how we can take the sport to the next level. We believe we can harvest a lot of talents in rugby that can be developed to win laurels and equally be in a position to play in any league in the world.
“We are trying to revive schools sports in Nigeria in collaboration with Federal Ministry of Education so we will see how we can inculcate the sport at the grassroots level at a very young age from the schools. This way, the Rugby League will be built in the hearts and minds of our youths.”
The NSC Chairman reiterated the Commission’s commitment to aggressive talents development across all sports through international sporting tournaments.
“We are for every sport. This year alone, so far we have supported and enabled over 47 sports to international tournaments and only three came back without winning anything. This is a clear validation that something is happening right and a pathway to develop our sports and sporting talents”, he added.
He advocated for sporting collaborations between Nigeria and Australia.
“Australia is the number one in the rugby league. We will be glad to work with the Australian High Commission to forge sporting collaborations between both countries. There’s a lot we can do together through sports and to this end, we will set up a working ground to ensure we quickly activate this potential on a win win basis for both parties” he said.
Earlier, the Australian High Commissioner echoed the immense benefits of a sporting collaboration with Nigeria.
“Australia is a sports-loving country generally but it is the Rugby League that is dominating. We will like to collaborate with Nigeria in sports generally and Rugby League in particular. Sports is a tool for social inclusion and re-engineering and we will like to tap into all available opportunities to deepen diplomatic relations with Nigeria”, she pointed out.
General Manager of Nigeria Rugby League Isah Saulawa highlighted the importance of enhancing Nigeria and Australian relations through the Rugby League.
“Rugby League is the largest sport in Australia. In our strategic plan we aim to bridge the gap of diplomacy through sports. We as the governing body of Rugby League in Nigeria will like to bring the hands of both governments together in a handshake”, he noted.
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