He made the statement while receiving the report of the Independent Committee set up by his ministry to review the complaints over suspected medals table padding at the recently concluded 21st National Sports Festival, tagged ‘’Delta 2022.’’

 

Dare, who received the report on behalf of the federal government of Nigeria, stated that the Committee was set up to, among others, determine the shortfalls in the computation of the Medal table as well as establish the exact and correct result to put an end to the complaints surrounding it.

 

Dare, who expressed dismay over the level of insinuations and allegations going around attacking the Ministry, its staff, and the integrity of the Festival, noted that “there is no system anywhere in the world that is perfect; when issues are raised, the system should be allowed to respond to it accordingly.”

 

He explained that the Ministry bears the National Sports Festival, and if something is wrong, the Ministry should be allowed to fix it. “No one can run the Ministry for us; the Sports Ministry bears NSF, if something is wrong with it, we will fix it, and we will not be blackmailed into doing it,” Dare said.

 

The Minister reiterated that ensuring the successful organization of the biennial National Sports Festival is part of the Ministry’s mandate, thusis fully committed to ensuring that every challenge that will work against the goal is tackled headlong.

 

Dare, who described the NSF as the Nigerian Olympics, called on those culpable to desist from such acts as the Ministry will take all the administrative steps necessary to ensure that the Festival maintains its credibility, both at the local and international levels. While appreciating the Committee for bringing their technical know-how to bear towards the realization of their mandate, the Minister stated that the Ministry would ensure that the anomalies surrounding the Medal table are fixed accurately, based on the Committee’s recommendation, and released to the public as the final result.

 

“We will fix the medal table based on the report submitted and release it to the public accordingly,” he said.

 

In his remarks, the Permanent Secretary, Alhaji Ismaila Abubakar, stated that the Ministry set up the Independent Committee, made up of experts who had managed the Technical arm of previous Festivals, to submit a comprehensive report that will assist the Ministry in addressing the various complaints raised at the end of the competition.

 

He added that the Ministry would ensure the implementation of the Committee’s recommendation, not only to guide against future occurrences but to continue to build the confidence of the nation’s teeming youth in sports.

 

Also speaking, the Chairman of the Committee, Brig. Gen. Emmanuel Okaro (Rtd), thanked the Management of the Ministry as well as President Muhammadu Buhari in particular, for finding them worthy to serve in this capacity.