The Honourable Minister Of Youth and Sports Development, Mr. Sunday Dare in a meeting with representatives of The MTN Foundation, Mr. Tobe Okigbo (Director of MTN Fo), Mrs. Ogunayo Sanya (the Executive Secretary of the Foundation) and one other member of the board on Thursday the 23rd Day Of January, 2020 in Abuja.
The meeting was in line with achieving the Ministry’s DEEL initiative as it sought the partnership of the foundation in actualizing her mandate.
In his welcome address, the Minister urged the representatives to take a tour round the stadium, as he added, “The Moshood Abiola Stadium is a GEM and can be compared to any in the world”.
He went further to state that his administration is trying to transform sports to a sustainable business model. “We are about trying to create a sustainable model that can transform sports to a business. Our sports right now is just recreation, elsewhere sports is business. Other countries that don’t have as much as our population has turned sports into a business”
Mr. Sunday Dare, while addressing the MTN Foundation amidst other corespondents, spoke on the DEEL initiative which represents; D- Digital Skills Acquisition, E- Entrepreneurship, E- Employability, L- Leadership. While speaking on the Leadership component of DEEL, he advised,
“Unless we prepare them(the youth) for leadership today, they will not be able to lead tomorrow”
As the ‘D’ component of the DEEL initiative aligns well with the programs of the Foundation, the Minister was pleased as he stated that there can be both online and offline trainings-in the brick mortar buildings, youth developmental centers, and the digital hubs.
Speaking further, he called on the MTN Foundation to join the Junior Achievement Nigeria, Wilco group and Central Bank Of Nigeria (CBN) who are already partnering with the Ministry, as a strategic implementation partner to deliver her mandate.
In the response of the MTN Foundation, Mr. Tobe Okigbo, who is also a Director at MTN Nigeria commits that the Foundation and MTN Nigeria will work with the Ministry Of Youth and Sports Development.
