By Ben Ogbemudia, Abuja
The Japanese government said it is offering scholarship opportunities to Nigerian youth and supporting the country’s anti doping campaign.

Nigeria and Japan are set to deepen their bilateral relations with stronger and deeper collaborations in Sports and Youth Development.

Both countries are also seeking to promote cooperation in information technology that will be mutually beneficial to their youths and sports development.

The Japanese Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Matsunaga Kazuoshi, who spoke during a courtesy visit to the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja, said both countries have a lot to benefit by working together.

According to him, hosting the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympic games has given his country a better perspective about the value of sports.

“We appreciate your presence in Tokyo for the Olympics and Paralympic games,” Mr Kazuoshi told the Youth and Sports Development Minister.

“And we want to build on the benefits of hosting these games to promote cooperation between Japan and Nigeria. We have sports equipment donated by Kizarazu City and some sports federations for the sports federations in Nigeria,” he added.

The Ambassador also stated that the Japanese Anti Doping Agency (JADA) is willing to provide online education that will help Nigeria deal with the doping issues in her sports.

In the area of youth development, Mr Kazuoshi said the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in Japan runs a scholarship programme that has over 230 Nigerians among its beneficiaries, while another initiative, the Abe initiative, founded by Shinzo Abe, their former Prime Minister, provided internship opportunities for students in the private sector, stressing that Nigerian students could benefit from both programmes.

The Minister, while responding, said seeking to strengthen diplomatic relations between Nigeria and Japan using sports and youth development, would turn out as the best decision by both countries.

Dare said Nigeria was working hard to improve her anti-doping status and would take advantage of the online education to be provided by JADA to create more awareness as well as provide more information about doping issues to her athletes.
He said the Federal Government, through the Ministry, will ensure that only qualified and genuine students are recommended for the scholarship programmes in Japan.

“Tokyo 2020, both the Olympics and the Paralympics, have had positive impact on our athletes. Since participating in the Tokyo Games, most of them have become better.

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“In the last two weeks, a lot of our student athletes who were in Japan have improved on their personal best records. Our Table Tennis Champion has moved up to 13th from 15th in the world rankings. All these are the Tokyo Olympics impact.

“On behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria, we want to thank Japan for hosting us and the rest of the world,” Dare added.

The Japanese Ambassador was accompanied on the visit by the Head of Culture and Information in the Embassy of Japan, Ms Nami Nakayoshi and the Ambassador’s Special Assistant, Mr John Nwankwo, a Nigerian.

Present at the meeting for the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development were the Director of Sports Medicine, Dr Paul Onyeudo, the Deputy Director, Anti Doping, Mrs Fadeke Adebola and the Special Assistant to the Minister on Policy, Mr Olumide Bamiduro.