President Muhammadu Buhari being presented with the GLO CAF Platinum Award Trophy by the the Minister of Youth and Sports, Barrister Solomon Dalung for Good Leadership at the State House in Abuja.
Nigeria’s Minister of Sports Solomon Dalung on Thursday updated President Muhammadu Buhari on the efforts of the Super Eagles to qualify for the 2018 Fifa World Cup in Russia.
After a closed-door meeting with the president at the Presidential Villa, the minister said he also briefed him on other developments in the nation’s sports.
“I updated him on the need for us to intensify our mobilisation efforts for the World Cup qualifier. Although we are topping the group, it is not Uhuru for us. We need to do more.
“I drew his attention to the fact that we have received the Queen’s Relay baton which kick starts the mobilisation for Commonwealth Games in Queensland, Australia in 2018.
“The baton is a Commonwealth tradition which is always flagged off by the Queen and she did that in March and it has been to six African countries with Nigeria being the seventh and it will proceed from here.
“The significance of the baton is its wake up call to countries to begin to prepare for the games.
“And we as a country had always performed very well in the games. There is a need for us to try and surpass our records in the next Commonwealth games.’’
The minister disclosed that the president appreciated the briefing and congratulated NFF President Amaju Pinnick for clinching a seat on the executive committee of Caf.
