Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, Minister of Sports, is the third African Sports Minister to confirm his participation on the ‘Sport and Government’ panel at the Soccerex African Forum in Durban, 1-2 October.
The Chairman of the Nigeria’s National Sports Commission (NSC) will be joined on the panel by Protais Mitali, Hon. Minister of Sport and Culture for the Republic of Rwanda and Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah, Hon. Minister for Youth and Sports for the Republic of Ghana who will provide an unprecedented discussion on the state of sport in Africa and the significant role that governments have in the development and regulation of it.
Abdullahi was appointed first as Minister of Youth Development in 2011 and acted as supervising Minister of Sports from December 2011. He was then appointed as the substantive Minister of Sport and Chairman of the NSC in May 2012 where he is responsible for implementing the policy and programmes of the federal government with respect to sports administration, management and facilities development.
Although he has only been in charge for a short period he has already introduced a number of positive initiatives at both a professional and grass roots level. The re-invigoration of the Nigeria Academicals Sports Committee (NASCOM) board to champion Rhythm N’Play, the largest mobilisation campaign for grassroots sports in Nigeria, the constitution of a League Management Company (LMC) and the introduction of the National Under-17 Youth Games are just some of the legacy projects that have seen him commended by senior Nigerian officials.
Soccerex CEO Duncan Revie said: “Nigeria is one of the continent’s leading sporting countries, as proven by this year’s tremendous victory in the African Cup of Nations. The Hon. Minister and his office are at the centre of the recent success of the national team and we’re delighted to welcome him back to one of our events again.”
The Soccerex African Forum will bring together 1,000 senior football decision makers together with businesses from across the continent and the world for two days of unrivalled learning, networking and business opportunities to unite the business of football in Africa. You can find the conference agenda for this year’s Forum here.
