THE Vice-President, Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), Babatunde Fatai-Williams, on Tuesday in Lagos said the body now targeted sports administrators in the country for efficient sports development and dividends.

Fatai-Williams made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the NOC capacity building and training for the Nigeria Association for Physical Health Education Recreation, Sports and Dance (NAPHER-SD).

NAN reports that NOC in collaboration with NAPHER-SD is organising a three-day Olympic Solidarity Sports Administration Course, for its members at the NOC Conference Hall, National Stadium, Surulere in Lagos.

The facilitators at the refresher course comprised of sports administrators from across the country with astute sports facilitators on hand to give lectures on important topics.

Some of the lectures lined up include: the Olympic values, the importance of sports to individuals, Managing People, assessing staff and volunteer training needs among others.

On the importance attached to the course, Fatai-Williams said that over the past years, sports administrators had been left unattended to in terms of training and capacity building which the NOC now sought to correct.

“NOC is part of the programme, more importantly to take on the sports administrators in the country to increase their efficiency and effectiveness.

“We want the sports administrators to be better mangers and change the face of sport in the country by imparting in them more knowledge and confidence for policy articulation and implementation.

“Over the years, we have concentrated much on the training of the athletes and their coaches which has created gaps in the administration and the professionals in the education of Olympic Movement.

“We have been managing the athletes but now, we have identified the need to include the sports administrators in the development culture to bridge the gap,’’ he said.

Fatai-Williams said that the gains of the refresher course would go a long way in making the sports administrators to be awake to their responsibilities.

“There are great expectations from this course that after the completion, the participants would have been able to gain from the wealth of experiences of the facilitators for sport improvement.

“It is good that we have training for the administrators because education is key to any development in the any sphere of life and that is the reason we see this course as important.

“Academic emancipation is a vital part of development, so, if we want to develop our sports, we must make concerted efforts at training and re-training.

“We cannot have golden athletes without golden administrators that are meant to produce the golden athletes,’’ he said.

Earlier, the President, NOC, Habu Gumel, said the course was aimed at improving the interpersonal relationships and communications among the administrators.

“The course is a refresher course designed to assist those individuals who work in the Olympic and sport movement throughout the world.

“The course aims to improve the interpersonal relationships, communication between individuals and commitment by providing sports opportunities for people, both young and old.

“The course would be conducted by qualified lecturers approved by International Olympic Committee (IOC) who are experts in their respective areas,’’ he said.

Contributing, the Secretary of NAPHER-SD, Hakeem Gbolagade Olukunga, said the body would seek to have the best knowledge out of the refresher course which would improve the managerial capacity of its members.

“This course designed to take the sports administrators to another level, we are happy having this course at a point in time we need to improve our efficiency as managers.

“At the end of the course, we will go back to our various constituencies and impact the knowledge gained at the conference,’’ he said. (NAN)

– Jun. 19, 2018 @ 14:55 GMT |