National Sports Commission (NSC) is committed to actualizing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s sports economy mandate, creating value chains in the sporting sector and unprecedented sports development to the grassroots through the elite sports.
To this end, the NSC Chairman, Mallam Shehu Dikko held a strategic meeting with the Comptroller-General of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Bashir Adewale Adeniyi at the NSC Secretariat.
Discussions centered on strategic collaboration between the NSC and NCS in the advancement of sports development in Nigeria as well as mutual strategies for unlocking and harnessing the Sports Economy potentials in Nigeria pursuant to the Renewed Hope Initiative for Nigeria Sports Economy (RHINES) programme and the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
CGC Adeniyi seized the opportunity to seek the Commission’s support in hosting the African Women Volleyball Inter-clubs Championship in Abuja from April 1 to 14, 2025. The service had attracted the hosting right to the nation by fending off competition from the likes of Morocco, Egypt and Tanzania ensuring the payment of all mandatory fees to secure the rights and are committed to hosting a successful event. The Customs Volleyball Club will represent Nigeria at the tournament.
Mallam Dikko threw his weight behind the tournament. His words, “You are speaking to the converted. We have a budget line for the improvement of our sporting infrastructures and the major reason is for us to be able to host these international tournaments in addition to advancing our domestic sports development. When we host these tournaments, it helps us to keep our facilities in constant use because we no longer want to tolerate our facilities lying idle without tournaments.
So hosting this tournament aligns with our vision in the Commission.
“We will do whatever we have to do to make this tournament a success. Over the weekend, Mr. President sent me to represent him at an international horse racing tournament in Bida, Niger State. At the venue, you could see that the city was agog as with all sorts of visitors and commercial activities through out the 5 days of the tournament. You could see the economic activities at the venue. These tournaments create sports jobs and help boost the sports economy. To help us achieve our Renewed Hope Initiative for Nigeria Sports Economy (RHINSE) we have the three Rs, reset, refocus and relaunch which are the pillars driving the reforms. This Africa tournament will help us to relaunch sports in a very different way.”
The NSC helmsman tasked the NCS to toe the line of NSC vision and set up a Customs Sports Academy.
“We have been given the presidential order to take sports to the grassroots. We are doing this along with the schools sports and we are setting up centers of excellence. An academy by the Customs will help us to discover fresh talents that can be taken to these centers of excellence. Nigeria Police Force is already working along this line”, he added.
Furthermore, the CGC provided the firm commitment of the NCS to align with and latch onto NSC programs as a platform to deliver some of NCS’s Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) projects. He committed to the donation of buses to support the operations and activities of some of the sports federations to ease athletes movements.
Dikko concluded, “The Nigeria Customs Service is certainly a key stakeholder in sports development in Nigeria as their exploits in basketball, volleyball, athletics and other sports are well documented. The NSC is hugely excited and glad with this collaboration. To this end a joint technical and project delivery team will be set up to ensure a seamless, sustainable and continuous engagement between the agencies.”