By Alpha Barrie
The Ministry of Sports (MOS) and the National Sports Authority (NSA) on Friday 30th August, 2024, presented their respective 2025 Financial Year Budgets to Finance Ministry officials at the Ministry of Finance.
Among other things, the NSA requires over Three Hundred and Twenty-Four Million New Leones, exceeding the NLe 121, 894,700 ceiling to promote and develop sports for the year 2025.
Speaking prior to the budget presentation, Sports Minister Madam Augusta James-Teima said sport needs huge budget as its activities can create massive jobs for the youths. She appealed to the Finance Ministry to consider the huge task associated with sports activities.
At the budget presentation desk, NSA Executive Director Dr. Emmanuel Saffa Abdulai said the 2025 Budget is anchored on promoting local sports to entice job creation, foster national cohesion, and propel infrastructural development.
“Our FY 2025 budget focuses more on job creation, which is one of Government’s Big Five Game-Changers. We are the only sector that has the propensity to employ over 3,000 people within eight months, using the just concluded Sierra Leone Male and female premier leagues as an example,” Dr. Abdulai pointed out.
In addition to job creation, the NSA Chief said the Agency is also determined to construct new sports facilities and rehabilitate existing ones across the country.
Presenting on behalf of the Ministry of Sports, Sports Director Mustapha Haroine Korgie told the meeting that they have drafted six policies that speak to different emerging issues in sports such as gender, ranking, funding among others. He clarified that the NSA is the technical wing of the Ministry tasked the implementation of all activities relating to sports in the country. He described the relationship between the two institutions as cordial.
Officials of the Ministry of Finance, the media, and non-state actors commended both institutions for their PowerPoint presentations with pictorial evidence showcasing the number of medals and trophies won by Sierra Leonean athletes in respective sports on the international stage.
The National Sports Authority is an agency of Government established by an Act of Parliament with the mandate to promote, encourage, develop, and supervise all sports and sporting activities and to provide for other related matters.
