The Minister for Youth and Sports, Hon. Mustapha Ussif on Wednesday, 29th September signed a quadripartite agreement with colleague youth and sports ministers from Nigeria, Algeria and Egypt after addressing the 56th Ordinary Committee Session of the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA) at Abuja.
The agreement, focuses on youth development of the various countries in Digital Skills Training, Digital Economy, Enterprise Development and Entrepreneurship Training and Youth in Sports.
The ministers expressed satisfaction with the proposal to expand the agreement to include all ministers across the continent, and also present experts from individual countries to form a technical committee to draft a fit for purpose framework for all countries to follow.
Addressing the press after the signing ceremony, the Nigerian Youth and Sports Development Minister, Hon. Sunday Dare announced the need to work together to facilitate development in the area of youth and sports collectively.
“On our part as Ministers of Youth And Sports, we will marshal the political will necessary, chart a course of initiatives and sports policy development that can deliver a brighter future for sports development,” Dare said.
The Egyptian Minister for Youth and Sports, Prof. Dr. Ashraf Sobhy on his part, affirmed that “We as as a ministry, will work as one country in an effort to develop youth and sports in Africa. With the scheme from the Honourable Minister from Nigeria, we can seek how to work together.”
The Algerian Minister for Youth and Sports, Abderezak Sebagag, said: “concerning the developmental policy that we want to engage our youth in, our respective countries, especially the aspect of improving their digital skills, we have a volunteer program in Algeria .”
Hon. Ussif also said “we are going to make sure that we have 4 action plans for the whole continent so that we can all be on the same page and leverage on each others strengths and weaknesses to support each other with the necessary platform for all African youth.”
The ministers assured the press of using their roles to create the needed policy framework and political push to create a conducive environment to enhance sports development across Africa.
