Scorecard: Dare Leads Nigeria To Winning 254 Medals Under Buhari

Scorecard: Dare Leads Nigeria To Winning 254 Medals Under Buhari

By Niyi Busari

The immediate past Minister of Sports and Youth Development, Sunday Dare through some of his policies (Adopt-an-Athlete, Adopt a pitch, etc) that laid the foundation for his excellent performance led Nigeria to unprecedented achievements in international competitions in the last four years. It was under him that Nigeria dominated Africa and indeed took the world by storm in Athletics, Wrestling, Basketball, Table Tennis, Cycling, Para-Athletics, Hockey, Powerlifting, Boxing, Para-table Tennis, Volleyball, Scrabble, and indeed Football. During his nearly four year tenure, he led Nigeria to winning 95 gold, 71 silver and 88 bronze medals (274 medals in total).

The unprecedented achievements were recognized by former President Muhammadu Buhari when on Sunday 28th May 2023 conferred on Sunday Dare Commander of the Order of Niger (CON), to end his blissful tenure in style.

In his first assignment as Minister of Sports, Sunday Dare led Nigeria to winning 127 Medals at the 2019 All African Games in Morocco. Nigeria finished Second on the log with 46 gold, 33 silver and 48 bronze medals.

Top moments under his reign as Minister of Sports was when Tobi Amusan became the first ever Nigerian World Athletics Champion and World Record Holder winning the women's 100 m hurdles gold medal at the 2022 World Championships in Oregon-United States, setting the current World Record of 12.12 seconds in the semi-final, followed up by a wind-assisted 12.06 seconds in the final. Tobi Amusan is one of beneficiaries of Adopt-An-Athlete initiative.

The unprecedented achievements of Nigeria at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, are the country's best outing in the competition with 35 medals consisting of 12 gold, 9 silver, and 14 bronze.

All facets of Nigerian sports experienced a 'Dare tsunami', from the upgrade of iconic sporting facilities around the country to the revival of dormant sporting association-to to being result-driven thus winning medals for Nigeria.

Athletes' and coaches' welfare was the number one priority of the Sports Ministry under Dare, as his Adopt-an-Athlete and Adopt-a-Pitch now become a model for some African countries, that have seen the immediate gains such model.

At competition proper, the Nigerian flag was hoisted at major champions, as well as the country's anthem was sung on the podium. Our athletes were not making up the numbers but winning gold with reckless abandon.

In his first assignment as Minister of Sports at the 2019 All African Games, Nigeria raked in 127 medals consisting of 46 gold, 33 silver and 48 bronze medals.

In the beautiful round leather game, Nigeria excelled in both male and female championships across cadres.

The Super Eagles who couldn't defend the AFCON title won in 2013 in South Africa, couldn't qualify in back-to-back editions in 2015 (Equatorial Guinea) and 2017 (Gabon).

Things took a twist in 2019 as Nigeria qualified for the edition in Egypt and went on to claim the bronze medal.

At the male cadet level, both the Flying Eagles and Golden Eaglets won gold at the WAFU B U20 tourney (Niger Republic) and WAFU B U17 (Ghana)

Eaglets -Gold (2022), with both serving as qualification platforms for the AFCON U20 (Egypt) and AFCON U17 in Algeria.

Flying Eagles, under the guidance of Ladan Bosso claimed Bronze and a qualification to the FIFA U20 World Cup in Argentina.

Female football also got the needed attention as the Nigeria U17 girls, Flamingoes won Bronze at the 2022 FIFA U17 Women's World Cup while Super Falcons qualified for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup.

On the home front, the domestic football leagues in Nigeria also had a fell of the 'Dare Tsunami'

Bayelsa Queens became the first women's team to win bronze in the CAF Women’s Champions League in Morocco, following a 1-0 win over Tanzanian side Simba Queens in the third-place match.

In Basketball (Women's Afrobasket),

D'Tigress ruled Africa as back-to-back champions in 2019 and 2021. The D'Tigers, Nigeria male senior national team became first Africans to beat USA.

The Nigeria Volleyball U19 boys were African Champions for two consecutive years in 2021 and 2022, winning gold medals on two occasions.

Nigeria Hockey men's national team won Bronze Medal at the 2022 African Nations Cup in Ghana.

The National Scrabble team in 2019, did make a mark in World Scrabble, by winning Gold at the WESPA Championship, while Nigeria won the African Cup Track Cycling competition in 2019 with 12 gold, 18 silver, and 12 Bronze medals with Egypt and Morocco coming 2nd and 3rd respectively.

At the just-concluded Confederation of African Athletics, Team Nigeria finished second behind winners South Africa at the 2023 African Under 18 and 20 Athletics Championships, winning 17 Gold, 10 Silver and 9 Bronze medals, in Ndola.