On Thursday, October 10, 2019, Nigeria Youth and Sports minister, Sunday Dare will be exactly 50 days old in office and keen foĺlowers have taken time to do a careful assessment rating of this Oyo state born veteran journalist.
This assessment is done in Alphabetical order.
Each alphabet will produce an adjective that will describe in detail, his achievements in his first 50 days in office.
A- ACHIEVER…. in 50 days, Sunday Dare has proved to all, that he is an achiever. He started like a house on fire, getting to work on the day of his official announcement as Nigeria sports minister and a few days later, he was in Morocco, championing Nigeria’s campaign at the continental sports fiesta where team Nigeria garnered 46 gold medals on their way to amassing a combined total of 127 medals to finish second behind host Egypt on the overall medals table.
B. BOOSTER. Nigeria sports minister Sunday Dare has shown in only a short while that he is the perfect man for the job. In Morocco during the Africa games, he visited the athletes camp on many occasions and boosted their confidence with encouraging words and the needed monetary incentives that galvanized the athletes up and led to the exploits of team Nigeria at the games.
3. COURAGEOUS. He is never scared of taking decisive decisions like the one he took when he recalled the technical director of the Athletics federation of Nigeria Sunday Adeleye from the World Athletics championship in Doha for obvious administrative lapses and violation of the rules and regulation of the IAAF.
D- DECISIVE. Sunday Dare has shown in fifty days that he can be very decisive at all time. He has always left no one in doubt as to what his direction is and what he seeks to achieve and has no room for distractions. All those that attended meetings with him came out very clear as to what the minister wants and where he is heading to. This has given everyone the zeal to always do their best for him to succeed
E- ENERGETIC AND ENTERPRISING. The new sports minister has not had a day to rest since assuming office on August 21, 2019. From the Africa games in Morocco to the FIBA World Championship in China, after which, he was invited to deliver a keynote address at 74th United Nations Assembly. This man has always been up and doing, trying always to be where the event is taking place.
F. FAULTLESS. He is human and is prone to make mistakes. However, it is difficult to fault this man even when he makes any mistake, he has shown in fifty days, that he is a man that doesn’t know all and will be willing and ready fo listen to good advice.
G- GENEROUS. He has made sure that Nigeria Athletes now have cause to smile. In Morocco during the African games, he was very generous with funds, making sure athletes and officials get their allowances as at when due and fulfilling all promises made to outstanding athletes at the games. His generosity is not in doubt as he has promised to find time out of his very busy schedule to host the wife and two year old son of late Flying Eagles defender, Uzama Douglas in a bid to help the family overcome their worst moments after the death of the footballer.
H- HUMILITY. His strongest weapon remain his humbleness. He is very down to earth and easily accessible. He is always ready and willing to offer a helping hand and knows when to say sorry if and when he is at fault. On assumption of office as new sports minister, Sunday Dare, invited all critical stakeholders including paying a visit to his predecessors like Solomon Dalung just to get vital information about the major challenges of the past and how best to use their experience to tackle the future. He may decide to make use of these advices or discard them but the good thing is that he yields and respect everyone no matter who they are and so long as they have something to say on the way forward for Nigeria sports.
I- INDUSTRIOUS. In just fifty days in office, Sunday Dare has started making moves to get private investors invest in Nigeria sports. The other day, he held a meeting with the chairman (CEO) of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, with the aim of luring the multi billionaire to invest in the development of Nigeria sports. He has planned several other meetings with wealthy Nigerians on how they can put their money into promoting Nigeria sports.
J- JUST JOVIAL. He is always ready to share a joke and hardly gets angry even when provoked. He spent time relating with athletes at the games village in Morocco during the African games and has won the hearts of Athletes and officials in just fifty days in office
K- KEEN TO LEARN. He has not stopped asking questìons from those who should know. He held meetings with the executive committee of the NFF, the NBBF board and other key stakeholders in the sector all because he is keen to learn and wants to improve his knowledge of sports.
L- LEARNING FAST. In just fifty days in office, the new sports minister has covered lots of grounds. He has learnt from the mistake of his predecessors and has taken necessary steps not to fall prey to the antics of those always looking to cause trouble. He is not interested in all the crisis rocking football, rather what bothers him is how to get the sport moving with results to show for his efforts.
M- MOVING TO THE ACTION SPOT. On Friday October 4, the sports minister moved away from the comfort of the National sports commission secretariat to his small office at the MKO Abiola stadium in Abuja because he wants to fully concentrate on doing his job. One of his major projects before the end of this year, is how to renovate the stadium and restore it to it’s past glory
N- NEGOTIATION. In just fifty days in office, the sports minister is open to negotiation with interested companies ready to take over the refurbishment of the various National stadia with a view to concessioning them to these companies for a particular period of time. The minister has so far, visited the the National stadium in Lagos, Liberty stadium in Ibadan and the Moshood Abiola stadium in Abuja just to see things for himself.
O- OPEN TO IDEAS. Sunday Dare is always open to inteligent ideas and opinions that will help promote Nigeria sports. He has met with so many groups in the last fifty days and have more meetings planned for the coming days to further update his knowledge of how to improve Nigeria sports.
P- PROMOTION. He held a meeting only recently with chieftains of the Nigeria football federation and AS Roma football club of Italy as he seeks for ways to further promote football at the grassroots. He Hopes that the partnership deal reached between the NFF and AS Roma will go a long way to promote football at the grassroots.
Q- QUESTION AND MORE QUESTIONS. Since assuming office as Nigeria sports minister, Sunday Dare has not stopped asking questions. He wants to know why Super Falcons chief coach Tomas Dennerby walked out on Nigeria, he wants to know why the Nigeria professional football league is yet to kick off, he wants to know why five Super Falcons players have not been paid their allowances months after the women’s world cup and he has also demanded enhanced transparency from all agencies under his watch. Even the Nigeria football federation that published their last audited accounts and were said to always notify the ministry of all their inflow, he still demands more from them, to ensure no one is left in doubt. He wants more information and transparency so as to ensure he can support and intervene at the right time to avert any problems and ensure that the correct narratives are out there for the good of the game.
R- RESULTS. He is a man that wants results and will not fall for anything short of excellence. He kept pushing and encouraging the Athletes at the African games, same way he encouraged D’TIGERS and Nigeria athletes currently in Doha for the World Athletics championships.
S- SOLUTION MINISTER. Many who went to him with problems always left with a smile on their face. He wont let go unless he finds an answer to your problem. He is determined to find an end to the crisis in basketball, Rugby, Taekwondo and many other sports still struggling with internal wranglings.
T- TENACIOUS. Sunday Dare has surprised many with his tenacity and drive. He is a man that seem destined to succeed because he has done so much in just a short time and will do even more as time goes on.
U- UPRIGHT. He is a strong apostle of the anti corruption campaign of president Mohammadu Buhari. He has promised to remain upright in all his dealings. He has also warned those under his ministry to present themselves clean whenever they come to equity.
V- VERY VERY INTELLIGENT. You cannot expect anything less knowing his background. Listening to him speak, gives one the assurance that the future will be great for Nigeria sports. His intelligence was put to test severally and he has never disappointed. He has answers to every difficult questions.
W- WILL. He has shown that he has the will to succeed. Nigeria sports minister Sunday Dare is always willing to spend his money to travel to where the action is taking place. He is never tired of challenges and that is because he has the strong will to succeed
X. XENIAL. Sunday Dare is very hospitable and caring. He has a good heart and a listening ear. He has not stopped engaging all the warring factions within the Nigeria sport fratanity with a bid to finding an amicable solution to the lingering crisis in Nigeria sports
Y- YOUTH DEVELOPMENT. As minister of youth and sports, Sunday Dare plans to refocus youth Development especially in the areas of digital skills acquisition. He believes Youth is a resource to be harnessed not a problem to be solved. He is therefore putting in place modalities to get Nigerian youths off the streets by putting their energies into meaningful ventures
Z- ZEAL. He has got the zeal and passion to succeed. He is not a vindictive and has gone about his assignment with an open heart.
He is just the perfect man to take Nigeria sports to it’s ZENITH.
