KADUNA (Interior Ministry’ Report)- President Muhammadu Buhari has said that the Ministry of Interior Games (MIGA) has the prospect of bringing Nigeria once more into international reckoning in Sports, and would also offer the platform on which youths would channel their abundant energy.
President Buhari, who was represented by the Deputy Governor of Kaduna State, Architect Barnabas Bala Bantex, stated this in Kaduna while declaring open the maiden edition of the biennial Ministry of Interior Games, tagged MIGA 2016.
He expressed the hope that the sports festival would achieve the purpose for which it was conceptualized – to strengthen the integration process among the Services under the Ministry to enable them carry out the Ministry’s mandate of providing internal security.
In an address, the Minister of Interior, Lt Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (Rtd), said the biennial Ministry of Interior Games (MIGA) was purposely organized to strengthen the integration process among the five Services under the Ministry to enable them carry out creditably their mandated duty of maintaining internal security in the country.
The Minister emphasized that sports had the potential of forging a bond, embedded in amity, among the Services under the Ministry – Nigeria Police Force (NPF), Nigeria Prisons Service (NPS), Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Federal Fire Service (FFS), and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).
Gen Dambazau noted that sports contributed to nation-building and enjoined the participants to let MIGA 2016 mark the beginning of “many good things to happen in the Ministry”.
He also hoped that the Games would throw up sports men and women capable of representing the country in international sports fora.
In a goodwill message, the Minister of Sports, Solomon Dalung, described the Ministry of Interior Games as a deliberate attempt to unite diverse institutions in one platform for more effective service delivery, noting that sports essentially promotes national unity but also boosts the economy through wealth creation.
Dalung recognized the ultimate sacrifice by security officers and men who lost their lives in fighting Boko Haram, and called on officers and men to remain focused and dedicated in building a vibrant nation.
The Minister hoped that MIGA 2016 would prove to be a fertile ground to harvest talent for Tokyo 2020, recalling that the Services under Ministry of Interior have produced international sports men and women who have excelled in different areas of sports.
There were also goodwill messages from the Nigerian Army, the Nigerian Navy, Ministry of Defence, wishing Ministry of Interior a successful MIGA 2016 and hoping the country would tap into it and harvest sports men and women from there.
In a vote of thanks, the Acting Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Interior, Alhaji Muhammadu Maccido, encouraged the athletes to put in their best, but most of all to be the catalyst for integration among the Services.
He commended the Minister of Interior, Lt Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (Rtd), for the concept of the Ministry of Interior Games and everyone for the measures they contributed in bringing the Games to reality.
