President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed his administration’s commitment to using football for the development of the girl-child and national unity.
The President spoke yesterday while receiving the FIFA delegation led by its president, Gianni Infantino, and the president of Confederation of African Football (CAF), Patrice Motsepe, at State House, Abuja.
He called on the top echelon of FIFA to see Nigeria as one of its greatest assets when it comes to the development of football.
On women’s football, the President expressed delight that Nigeria has produced excellent role models to inspire the next generation of stars to take up the sport.
President Buhari in a statement by his spokesman, Femi Adesina, told the visiting FIFA president, who is in the country for the six-nation Aisha Buhari Invitational Football Tournament, that since 2017 his administration had adopted football as a national asset.
He explained that the sport is being accorded the highest level of attention possible by the government to enable rapid development of abundant talents in the country.
“Our hearts beat as one anytime our teams are playing a football match. Our youth are always positively engaged when our national football teams are on assignment.
“Without any doubts here, football is a major tool of national unity,” he stated.
On his part, Infantino renewed FIFA’s commitment to support the development of football in Nigeria, pledging to strengthen its partnership with the Nigeria Football Federation.
The FIFA president thanked President Buhari for supporting the development of the game, appealing to him to help FIFA amplify the message of football as a uniting force.
In his remarks, the Minister of Youth and Sports Development Sunday Dare said Nigeria, as the leading black nation in the world, was central to all that FIFA is seeking to achieve in its football development plan.
From the Presidential villa, Dare led the FIFA president on a short inspection tour of the newly re-grassed Moshood Abiola National Stadium Abuja.
Infantino expressed satisfaction with the present state of the national edifice.
