Collaboration

By Olawale Alabi

Abuja (Dec. 29, 2025)(www.crestnewsonline.ng) Habu Gumel, President of the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), on Monday in Abuja expressed optimism that the existing stronger collaboration between the country’s sports stakeholders would help Nigeria in delivering a strong presence at upcoming international events.

Gumel who spoke while welcoming delegates to the 2025 Annual General Meeting of the NOC and Commonwealth Games Nigeria noted that stronger collaboration was essential for optimum delivery and maximum success.

“We at the NOC appreciate the close collaboration and support of the National Sports Commission (NSC) in the delivery of our objectives.

“However, National Federations must brace up to the challenges of ensuring compliance with procedural rules of their International Federations and (the) whereabouts/testing requirements of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

“This is very important even as we strive to identify, support and train our athletes to achieve podium performance levels at both the Glasgow Commonwealth and Los Angeles Olympic Games.

“We are optimistic that with the stronger collaboration between all stakeholders —- the NSC, the NOC and the Federations, we are in a better position to deliver a strong presence at these important upcoming Games,” he said.

Aside from the Glasgow Games is scheduled for July 23 to August 2 in Scotland and the Youth Olympic Games slated for October 31 to November 13 in Senegal, the Los Angeles Games is scheduled for 2028.

Speaking before declaring the AGM open, the NSC Chairman, Shehu Dikko, said it was delightful that the sports family has had a rancour-free year, especially with the national sports federation elections.

He expressed optimism that such a situation would continue to prevail in order for the Nigerian sports climate to remain toxic-free.

“Such a rancour-free situation led to us attending about 54 international competitions across all sports, with several medals being won,” he said.

The one-day AGM saw the presentation and adoption of annual reports, as well as the assessment of reports and programmes.

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