Abuja – The Chairman, House of Representatives’ Committee on Sports, Godfrey Gaiya, says the committee is trying to correct the impression that sport is only about football.

Gaiyasaid in an interview  on Tuesday, in Abuja, that there were other sports that had brought Nigeria glory and recognition.

“We are going to correct the impression that sport is only about football; there are sports other than football that can give Nigeria glory and better recognition, if properly managed,” he said.

The chairman said that the committee would ensure that the bodies responsible for such sports were included in the budget as was the case with the football federation.

Gaiya noted: “If you look at our budgetary system in this country, apart from football that has a particular sum of money spelt out for it in the budget, other federations are not so highlighted’’.

He said that the committee had discussed with sports commissions to ensure that each federation received the money allocated to it in the budget to enable them to execute their programmes.

“So, what we have agreed to do since they always tell us that the budgetary system here comes item by item, is to have an item in the budget called `sporting activities’.

“ We must begin to set money aside, federation by federation; we believe that sporting activities should therefore be items for which we must set money aside.

“This way you know that handball, for example, is entitled to a particular sum of money which they can use to plan their programmes annually like football is doing,” Gaiya added.

However, the chairman stressed that other sports federations must be properly managed, adding that the committee would continue to monitor their programmes after money was released to them.

“So we, as a committee, will ensure that item by item allocation to sports federations are given and monitored when releases are made to allow the federations run their programmes.” (NAN)