The National Sports Authority (NSA) on Thursday, 20th June, 2024, brought together eighty sports stakeholders to consummate efforts towards institutionalizing the National Sports Development Fund.
The meeting, held at the City Hall View Conference room, aimed at tapping from the invaluable contributions made by critical individuals from sixty-one sporting organizations.
Highlights to the draft statutory instrument relate to its governance structure, revenue resources, eligibility, institutional roles and responsibilities, among others.
Since President Bio launched the National Sports Basket Fund on December 10, 2021, and donated ten billion old Leones to the initiative, two good years have elapsed.
The City Hall engagement is a deliberate stride to revive the Fund by formulating strategies through which it can live to support sport development.
At the meeting, the Executive Director of NSA, Dr Emmanuel Saffa Abdulai Esq, said the NSA has developed the regulations for the conduct of the Sports Development Foundation, for which the stakeholders should establish the institutional framework through expert contributions. “In the coming weeks, we are going to engage you again for your varied contributions to the Anti-doping and Court of Arbitration instruments to take sports to prosperous heights,” he said.
On the need to thrive beyond the current space, Dr. Abdulai called on sporting organizations to stop the internal fights and work towards concrete development. “This is not business as usual. You have six months to put your houses in order. By next year, any sporting discipline that fails to meet our established benchmarks will be starved from benefiting from Government support,” he pointed out, adding that he wants to see the growth of all sporting organizations.
Speaking about the authority, Dr. Abdulai said the NSA is the only body that has the power to enable sporting organizations to exist.
On his part, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Sports Oversight Committee, Hon. Hindolo Mohamed Ngevao, thanked Dr. Abdulai for making the day possible and for bringing good omen to sports development. “I am satisfied with the way the new NSA Executive Director expended government money. Our responsibility is to supervise government expenditures,” he said, stating that sport brings people together and has the power to control human nerves.
Toeing his line was the new NSA Board Chairman, Ibrahim Nyelenkeh, former Minister of Sport, who started off by congratulating Dr. Abdulai for the envied feat. He shed light on the significance of the Sport Fund and its revealing qualities to performing sports organizations.
Speaker after speaker emphasized the importance of the day and cited its generational benefits.
At the highpoint, the Minister of Sports, Madam Augusta James-Teima, said sport is no longer a dustbin or a place full of the uneducated. “Serious people are now running sports,” she said, telling stakeholders present that her Ministry will work with all to push development forward with the Development Fund in mind.
“The Ministry of Sports and the NSA are working together. We consult with each other in order to deliver sports for the people of Sierra Leone,” she said, declaring the meeting open.
The second phase of the consultative meeting saw the stakeholders split into groups with NSA Project Coordinator, Michael S. Mustapha, leading the proceeding having been assisted by NSA volunteers.
NSA Media
