The Minister of Sports, Solomon Dalung, on Thursday, inaugurated an eight-man committee to assess and evaluate the nation’s sporting facilities and mini-sport centres.

The committee, headed by Dr Agboola Adewale Dixon, voluntarily offered to carry out a comprehensive inspection of all national mini-sporting facilities in the country and generate an information data-bank for the ministry.

Other members of the committee include: public health physician Dr Jimlas Opeyemi Ogunsakin, Arc Bose Idegbesor, Ezra Marcus Madaki, Engr Fred Onuorah, Clement Nwankpa, Victor Ugboh and Ikechukwu Ikogwe, the committee’s secretary.

According to Dixon, the report will enable the ministry to know how many facilities there are in the country, their locations, their present state and what is needed to make them functional.

According to Dixon, the committee’s work will revolve around assessing some of the nation’s abandoned sporting centre, stadia and other facilities spread across the nation.

“We’ve gone round to take some photographs showing the various mini sports complexes in the country. They’re about eighteen in number. Some are yet to be completed while the Afuze National Training Centre, Mambila Middle and Long Distance Training Centre and the Rayfield Sports Centre  which produced many Olympians and national record-holders have  been lying fallow for many years.”

Inaugurating the committee, Dalung praised the group for their patriotism and commitment to restoring the dignity of sports in Nigeria.

“Out of self-volition, you have identified a peculiar challenge of sports development and decided to offer yourselves to go round the country and collate statistics and data and write a comprehensive report on the state of facilities in the country.

“You have already undertaken preliminary investigations and you have provided pictures and images of the situation on ground. Knowing the state of these facilities will enable us to take action on how to put them back to use,” Dalung said.

Also, the committee is expected to examine the sports health system, clinics , anti-doping centres, rehabilitative, curative and preventive areas of sports medicine to be integrated into these sports facilities as well as quick intervention to injury prevention which are not in place at the various mini sports centres.

Its report is expected on the minister’s desk in three weeks.

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Dalung Inaugurates C’tee To Assess Mini Sports Centres