LAGOS SPORTS COMMISSION RELEASES APPROVED GUIDELINES FOR SPORTS ASSOCIATIONS
The Lagos State Sports Commission has released guidelines for the reconstitution of new Boards of the State Sports Associations, following the recent dissolution of the former boards to enable the State Government to reposition the activities of all State Sports Associations to align with the vision of the Governor Akinwunmi Ambode-led administration.
According to the guidelines released by the Executive Chairman, Lagos State Sports Commission, Dr. Kweku AdedayoTandoh and in line with the Lagos State Sports Commission law 2017, each Board shall have a maximum of six (6) persons. The Associations shall also have at least one female member on each proposed Association Board as part of the gender-inclusive policy of the State Government.
The guidelines stated that any Sports Association Chairman who has served for the immediate past two consecutive terms, or more, (from the Year 2008 or earlier), shall not be eligible to serve as Chairman of the same Sports Association Board.
Similarly, any Sports Association Chairman who is currently the President or Vice-President of any National Sports Federation shall not be eligible to serve as Chairman of the proposed State Association Board but can be a member, if he/she is selected.
The guidelines stipulate further that no Technical Director shall be appointed for any Sports Association instead, each State Sports Association will be expected to have a Technical Committee headed by one of its Board Members.
In the same vein, no Patrons will be appointed for any Sports Association Board instead, each Sports Association will recommend suitable Patron(s) for their Sport, subject to the final approval of the Lagos State Sports Commission.
In consonance with what operates at the National Level, the former State Para Sports Association will now be broken into four (4) separate Sports Associations; the Para-Athletics Association, Para-Powerlifting Association, Para-Soccer Association and other Para-Sports Association (to include newer Para-Sports), while each of the four (4) Sports Associations will have its own Board of six (6) members.
It noted that the Traditional Sports Association will, for now, remain as one Association in order to take care of the needs of the different constituent Sports; the new Board will, however, have a Chairman and five (5) Vice-Chairmen for each sport – Abula, Ayo, Dambe, Kokuwa and Langa – being supervised by a Vice Chairman who specializes in that sport.
The guideline also declared that each of the Sports Associations will have their respective Media Spokesperson to be nominated by the Lagos State Chapter of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN).