The Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), and the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, have jointly agreed that team Nigeria would participate in various international sporting events.
This was disclosed in a communique signed by the NOC Public Relations Officer (PRO), Tony Nezianya, after the concluded executive board meeting at the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA) in Abuja.
According to the communique, the committee decided that team Nigeria will participate in the African Beach Games, the Commonwealth Youth Games in Trinidad & Tobago, and the ANOC World Beach Games in Bali, Indonesia.
The committee also believed that the upcoming games will aid the federations in their preparations for two major events in the following year.
The African Games which is scheduled to hold in Ghana in March 2024, and 2024 Paris Olympic Games hosted by France are considered of utmost importance.
“These decisions highlight the NOC’s commitment to international programs in the lead-up to the Paris Games. Furthermore, there are several Olympic qualifying championships that National Sports Federations will attend to meet the stringent qualifying standards for the Paris Games.
“During the meeting, the president of the NOC unveiled two significant properties—the newly redeveloped Amuwo Odofin Olympic Village, which includes sporting facilities such as football pitches, tennis, volleyball, and basketball courts, an indoor multi-purpose hall, and athletics running tracks.
“Additionally, the NOC announced the allocation of five hectares of land by the Federal Capital Authority for the construction of the committee’s permanent secretariat and accompanying sporting infrastructure.
“Plans are in motion to secure grants from the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa to develop these facilities,” the communique added.
The NOC meeting in session later received outgone youth and sports minister Sunday Dare, with a reminder to the National Federations that the last Nigeria won major medals at Olympics was during 1996 Games at Atlanta.
While the Dream team (Nigeria’s men’s football) won gold medal, long jump wizard Chioma Ajunwa won same gold at the Games.
