By Chernor Alimamy Kamara
In order to mark his first 100 days after being appointed Executive Director of the National Sports Authority (NSA), Dr. Emmanuel Saffa Abdulai told Journalists at a news conference in Freetown on Monday that they have drafted the National Sports Development Foundation regulations and engaged various national sports organizations for their inputs.
He added that they have also engaged the NSOs on the draft Anti-doping Authority and the position of trust.
He stated that they have negotiated with the Chinese for the installation of 23,000 (twenty-three thousand) plastic seats at the National Stadium which he said has led to the delay in commissioning the facility which has been postponed to May 2025 instead of November. When asked why the deduction of seats to 23,000 instead of the initial 35,000 expected capacity, he noted that it is due to the shape of the seats and have engaged the Chinese to reduce its size for more seats.
The NSA Executive Director pointed out that the Authority has secured land at Masiaka and another one at Aberdeen Creek from the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs for the construction of an indoor basket-ball court. He also said that they have established a traditional sports secretariat in Sierra Leone, signed a continental treaty and used sports as a mechanism to eradicate the drug Kush.
He further said that since his appointment, they have returned sanity to the north regional Branch of the Sierra Leone Athletics Association. He went on to say that they have approached the Chinese Embassy to upgrade the Bo Stadium and develop other sport facilities across the country.
The NSA boss reiterated that they have established partnerships with like-minded entities like the Ministry of Local Government to devolve sports and support the development of young people. NSA has spearheaded the release of funds to finance several international competitions and developed the Court of Arbitration legal framework for sports, he went on.
He concluded that the Authority has initiated a volunteer programme for ten law graduates to introduce them to sports law for the first time in the country.
NSA is the government's leading agency on sports that provides strategic guidance/supervision, support, and investment in sports. It regulates and monitors all sporting activities in a way that will complement the general approach to National Development in the country.
It provides a legitimate and orderly avenue for the overall development in the sports sector that will ensure good governance, effective management and efficient coordination of sports, clarity of roles, sporting excellence and mass participation in sports by both abled and disabled, in a gender-balanced society that surmounts all political barriers in the country.
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