The Minister of Sports, Solomon Dalung on Monday met with President Muhammadu Buhari, to seek his intervention in providing the one-point-three billion naira needed for hosting the National Sports Festival which is scheduled to start on the sixth of December, in Abuja.
The minister also appealed to the President to interface with the leadership of the National Assembly on the quick passage of the anti-doping bill which has been pending in the two chambers of the parliament to avoid the ban from the World Anti Doping Agency, WADA.
WADA had last week threatened to ban Nigeria if the country fails to establish an independent anti-doping agency.
Dalung explained yesterday that the fate of the festival now hangs in the balance after the initial private sector partner, which was supposed to contribute four hundred million naira, backed out and left government with no option but to provide more than its own nine hundred-million-naira contribution.
The Minister said he asked President Buhari to quickly intervene to make the Federal Government provide the funds to ensure the successful hosting of the national sports fiesta, which had not been held in the past six years.
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