Silas Agara, the President, Karate Federation of Nigeria (KFN), has assured of his commitment towards ensuring that his athletes are given adequate attention and exposure.
Agara, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sidelines of the inauguration ceremony of boards of national sports federations in Abuja, said that the end of the inaugural ceremony signaled a call to duty to take on new challenges and responsibilities.
“We thank God for the smooth and transparent process from the elections all the way to our inauguration.
“I must say that the speech of the Minister of Youth and Sports Development was indeed very apt and a challenge to us. It is now time for us to roll up our sleeves and get ready for the work ahead.
“I want to assure you that the road is not going to be smooth, but we won’t be distracted as my board members and I intend to remain focused on both our short and long term goals and objectives.
“We have a mandate to supervise the development of athletes practicing our sport and make sure that their welfare is also well taken care of.
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“Top on our priority list therefore is the welfare of our athletes as well as partnership with the private sector, the branding of our sport and scouting for talents,” he said.
The former Deputy governor of Nasarawa State stressed that he and his board would not rest on their oars and past achievements but continue to make all necessary sacrifices to ensure a brighter future for karate and the career of the young athletes.
“We have done well and gotten commendations from the ministry too but the fact that we have done well only calls for more responsibilities to our sport and the athletes.
“We have lined up lots of activities for 2021 and have been able to execute them but we still have a few more to do between now and the end of the year.
“We will also immediately be looking at our calendar for 2022 to outline our activities ahead of time so as to quickly identify our sources of income and work out our budget,” he said.
(NAN)
