The Executive Director of the National Sports Authority (NSA), Dr. Emmanuel Saffa Abdulai Esq, is marking his one hundred days in office today Monday, 15th July, 2024, having led over eighty engagements to amplify the country’s sport sector to a profitable end.

Appointed on April 9, 2024, Dr. Abdulai had long envisaged the rebirth of sports to contribute to national growth.

Commencing work on April 15, 2024, the new Chief based his tenets for progress on seven growth-driven pillars, which his 78 official engagements and over ten supportive ones capture in the most revealing fashion.

Among these tenets are the need to develop infrastructure, build capacity, enhance cross-border gains, establish sport development fund, devolve sports, attract diversity, and push for major reforms.

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Of the over eighty engagements under one hundred days, eleven were tuned to collaborations to extend the arms of NSA to entities whose contributions can help propel sports to enviable heights.There could be no better way to start than this.

To curtail wastage and brandish the value for money, Dr. Abdulai was quick to announce to all registered sporting organizations that organizing national competitions and adhering to good governance structure are the invaluable benchmarks to attract Government funding. This was a wake up call to boost international performance and rebrand the country’s image.

The effect of the foregoing principle saw Sierra Leone gymnasts winning gold medals at the Azerbaijan 2nd Baku Gymnastics Showpiece as the National Amputee Football Team brought home Fair Play award. Then, Leone Stars followed suit, having a win against Djibouti and a draw against Burkina Faso to secure four convincing points in the twin outing.

While those success stories beamed with accumulated grace, Dr. Abdulai looked inward for realistic reforms; for the first time, he brought in ten law graduates to help draft statutory instruments for the proper conduct of sports. The outcome saw the volunteers presenting draft legal framework for the National Sports Development Fund. The document contains 51 rules on how to attract income outside Government funding.

Given another task, Dr. Abdulai guided the graduates through the drafting of the Anti-doping Authority and the Position of Trust Regulation documents, both of which are meant to halt cheating and check abuse in sports.

Getting these initiatives rolled out, eighty sport administrators from 59 sporting organizations were brought together at the City Hall View Conference Room to tap from their contributions for the institutionalization of the three documents.

While the sporting world was busy absorbing those gains, Dr. Abdulai signed a historic cross-border MOU with Namibian authorities and the Management of Dome Sport Facility to deliver traditional sport across 54 African nations and to give Namibia the greenlight to host the first African Traditional Games in 2026. This was a remarkable win for Sierra Leone, which is housing the Secretariat for African Traditional Sports.

The continental success came after Dr. Abdulai, in collaboration with Africell and the Basketball Federation, had sealed a deal to construct a modern indoor basketball facility at Aberdeen and had engaged the Chinese engineers to consider the installation of plastic seats at the National Stadium.

From joining forces with the Independent Commission for Peace and National Cohesion in the fight against Kush in sport to liaising with the Ministry of Local Government to decentralize sports, the engagements of Dr. Abdulai and their accompanying benefits are too many to capture in one piece, just as Hon. Siraji Rollings-Kamara, former APC Member of Parliament, put it:

“What we are seeing at the NSA is a result of a leader having the 3 H’s—Head, Heart, and Hands. Head is for knowledge. Heart is for passion, and Hand is for ability. ESA is gifted and blessed with all three. And guess what? He looks like he is running against time.”