Osun State Governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke, noted at the weekend that sports, as an important sector, needs proper attention by the government and pledged to drive important development in the sector.
In a statement by his spokeswoman, Mallam Olawale Rasheed, the governor expressed his administration’s determination to drive sports development in the state through public-private partnerships.
Mallam Olawale noted that the Governor made the pledge while responding to an address by Masai Michael Ujiri, a British-born Nigerian-Canadian professional basketball executive and President of the Toronto Raptors in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Governor Adeleke, also assured of the readiness of his administration to develop sports in the state, extended a state invitation to Masai Ujiri to further consolidate his administration’s plans and efforts for the sector.
“I will invite you to Osun State in Nigeria. Come with sports investors. Osun is open to sport as a tool for economic development”, the Governor noted
The statement stated that the governor met Masai while addressing the delegation of Nigerian Governors at the ongoing leadership retreat organised by the Nigeria Governors Forum in Kigali, Rwanda. ”
“Masai Ujiri disclosed that sports as an important sector needs proper attention by the government and to drive the needed development in the sector, the government needs to bring in private investors, citing examples of how commercialising sports has helped many developed countries. ”
