Vice-President of the Commonwealth Taekwondo Union, George Ashiru has advised the newly inaugurated Minister of Sports and Youths Development, Sunday Dare, on the specific areas to focus on as he assumes his new position.
Dare, who succeeded Solomon Dalung was among the 43 ministers sworn-in by President Mahammadu Bahari last week Wednesday in Abuja to take the country to the next level.
Ashiru said that the minister must first pray to God for the wisdom he needs in running his new position.
The former President of the Nigeria Taekwondo Federation then urged the minister to set-up a strategic plan which will guide him on how to run his new office.
He stated that ”without a constitution, you will not know how to run your organisation”.
The taekwondo silver medallist at the Nairobi 1987 African Games also advised the 53-year-old journalist turned politician to consider reviving the High-Performance Policy, re-introduce the Sports Commission and revive the school sports which are critical to taking sports to the next level.
According to him, ”three key things are important for the minister to look at for sports development, he should review the High Performance Policy which works in some countries like Britain, re-introduce the Sports Commission and ensure officials undergo training to increase their capacity and then revive the school sports which is very critical to our sports”.
The former Vice- Chairman of Nigeria Olympic Committee’s Technical Commission insisted that there should be a lookout on the positive collaboration between the minister and other ministers holding other portfolios on issues that are related to sports in Nigeria.
The Taekwondo Grandmaster added that if the policies already in place do not work well with the strategic plan, then they should look for ways to come together and then get input from the federations and state governments and also create a sports policy that is workable with the strategic plan.
Finally, he advised the minister to work with people who will give him good advises to run his new office and not those who are after their own selfish desires and money.
