The Nigeria Equestrian Federation (NEF) has reiterated its commitment, in line with President Bola Tinubu’s vision, to ensure that sports is used as a tool for national development.
The President of NEF, Dr Anthony Obiora, said this during a press conference on Monday in Abuja regarding the unveiling of the future of Nigerian Equestrian Sports.
Obiora said that the project’s goals was aimed at identifying and nurturing talents, promoting regional representation and gender equality development.
According to him, the Equestrian game will go a long way in registering participation at international competitions, including
the Olympics to ensure that Nigeria is placed on global equestrian map.
“We are looking at grassroots development of sports, and our concentration at this moment is across board.
“We are looking at those equestrians on the streets and those who have interest in the sports, and the NEF has a regional structure so we intend to use that regional structure to get interested individuals.
“We are going to be looking at 50 athletes, 50 coaches and 50 officials. So we are going to be having 150 participants across Nigeria.
“Each of the region is going to present 24 participants who are going to be trained and the coaches will be trained and certified with the national certification level,” he said.
He said that the goal was for Nigeria to showcase its talented riders in the equestrian events at the Olympics.
Additionally, the organisation’s long-term goal is to establish a talent pipeline by 2025, extending its programme to secondary schools and tertiary institutions, and showcasing Nigeria’s best athletes on the Olympic stage.
Also speaking , the Executive Director, of Tourism Volunteers Network, Phil Roberts urged the country to take up the new innovation in sports as a way of generating money for the country.
Roberts said that the sports, if harnessed, would also serve as a way of developing the tourism sector as it would attract foreigners to the country.
“Nigeria has been focusing so more on crude oil, now everybody is talking about Compressed Natural Gas (CNG ) and electric gas.
“Other nations have gone far ahead in terms of development and one of the things they do not joke with is innovations.
“The equestrian sport is a new innovation and our job as tourism promoters is to see how we can have this as another potential for Nigeria revenue,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the sports, is scheduled to take place in Kano from Dec.8 to Dec.16,aimed at training participants in show jumping, Dressage, Eventing and Vaulting. (NAN)