The guidelines for the 2017 elections into National Sports Federations have been amended and the tenure of Presidents of National Federations has now been extended to 12 years as against the earlier proposed two terms of 8 years.
This is one of the decisions taken after a meeting of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) and some Federations presided over by the Minister of Youth and Sports Barrister Solomon Dalung on Friday in Lagos.
This means that a federation’s President can now spend 12 years in office, but will be barred to seek for re-election after the 3 terms.
In addition, Presidents of International Federations will not be eligible to contest for the presidency of National Federations as against Presidents and Vice Presidents stated in the earlier drafted guidelines.
A 7-man electoral appeals committee has also been constituted to consider and decide on all appeals and petitions arising from the elections, if any.
The committee will be chaired by the Acting Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Alhaji AbdulRazak Salau.
Meanwhile, the Zonal and National elections will now hold on the same day in Abuja. A congress will enable delegates to vote for the zonal contestants in the morning while National Federations’ election will take place later on the same day.
Speaking after the joint meeting of the NOC, the Ministry and the Federations, the Minister of Youth and Sports Barrister Solomon Dalung said that the guidelines were reviewed following wide consultations with sports stakeholders.
