The Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr Sunday Dare, has called on the Nigeria Volleyball Federation to put up structures that will ensure the development of the game from the grassroots so as to ensure its sustainability.
The Minister gave the charge in his office in Abuja, when he received a delegation from the Federation International for Volleyball (FIVB) and Confederation of African Volleyball (CAVB), led by the President, Nigeria Volleyball Federation (NVBF), Mr. Musa Nimrod.
According to him, volleyball is one of the games that have grown exponentially since his assumption of office as Minister, and as such would need all the wherewithal for the maintenance of the present tempo.
He therefore urged the Federation to develop more interest in the game especially in schools and colleges so as to shoot Nigeria to one of the topmost category in International Volleyball competitions.
“Work towards developing the game from the grassroots, schools, colleges and ensure Nigeria produces volleyball teams and clubs that can compete favourably with other countries,” Dare said.
The Minister who said volleyball is part of the nation’s DNA, said Nigeria is a sports loving country where government is ready to support all games to thrive for the harvest of talents and socio-economic development of the country.
In his remarks, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Alh. Ismaila Abubakar assured that the Ministry is ready to join hands with Volleyball and other Federations to ensure the growth and development of sports in the Nigeria.
Also speaking, the President NVBF, Mr. Musa Nimrod, commended the present Administration for its contribution to the development of the game in Nigeria.
He assured that the Federation will do its best to ensure that Volleyball is given a pride of place in the country.
The delegation from the FIVB which was led by Mr Mushtaque Mohammed also comprised Hitesh Malhotra and multiple Olympic medalist and legend, De Good Amauri Giba as well as the President of the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), Engineer Habu Gumel who is an Executive Committee member of the International Volleyball Federation.
