The Minister of Sports and Youth Development, Sunday Dare, has entrusted the Scrabble Federation of Nigeria with identifying new talent at the grassroots level in order to uphold their current position at international competitions, thesportsbay.com reports.
On Thursday at his office in Abuja, the Minister delivered the charge as a delegation from the Federation arrived to present him with the PAN African Scrabble Championship Trophy on the Maiden Tour of Africa.
“I am glad to receive the trophy, and as the trophy makes its tour, I know that it will come back to Nigeria after the Tournament”, Dare said
The Minister who commended the 8-year-old Master Saviour Onazi, National Junior Scrabble Champion, for the feat he had achieved for the country, assured that the Ministry will support his education and tournaments as part of its Talent Hunt Programme.
Dare stated further that the future of sports in Nigeria is bright with the passage of the National Sports Industry Policy (NSIP) which has reclassified Sports as Business and not Recreation, noting that it outlines an effective means of improving the funding of sports, obligations of the different tiers of government as well as participation of the private sector and other stakeholders in sports.
He therefore called on the Federation to create more awareness on the forthcoming competition as they prepare to host the first ever edition of the Pan-African Scrabble Championship that will be held in Nigeria in August 2023.
Also speaking, the President, PAN African Scrabble Association, Mr. Adekoyejo Adegbesan thanked the Ministry for its support to the Federation, stressing that they will deploy their technical expertise so as to solidify their dominance in the game.
