Sports Minister Signs MOU On Film Project To Relive Atlanta ’96

Nigeria’s Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Owan Enoh, on Monday 22^nd July, announced a transformative initiative to celebrate Nigeria’s Football Dream Team Atlanta 1996 Olympic gold medal win.

While celebrating one of the nation’s greatest Sports achievements, the Ministry said it will use the power of storytelling to inspire a new generation of Nigerian sportsmen and women, to foster a sense of pride, dedication, patriotism, and resilience.

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The Sports Minister during the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between his Ministry and Homelands Films to document the heroic voyage of Nigeria’s Dream Team at the 1996 Atlanta, Olympics Said the idea was a great one.

“It is an exciting moment, exciting more because of what value I think we are trying to make and what history we’re trying to make and what story we’re trying to tell, what lessons that story is going to teach so many people.

For too many, I mean they just grew up to hear that Nigeria won gold at the 1996 Olympics and perhaps that before Nigeria won gold for close to a hundred years since the start of the Olympics, no African team had won football gold and 28 years after that has not been repeated.”

President of Homeland Films, Mrs. Mary Ephraim-Egbas, spoke further on the importance of “The Dream Team Project” which goes beyond entertainment.

“This is a legacy project, right? We will immortalize our J .J. Okachas, our Babayaros. We will immortalize them. It’s not about them. It’s about the fact that there are young people that have already immortalized them in their hearts.

And us being able to put them on a pedestal would really affect the young people. And they’ll be able to see that, oh wow, if I work just as hard, Nigeria is going to reward me. They’re going to immortalize me they’re going to put me on a pedestal.”

A member of the Gold winning squad in Atlanta 1996, Emmanuel Babayaro (MON) who is presently the General Secretary of the Nigerian Olympians Association, said the sports film project was long overdue.

 “The Atlanta 1996 film project, in my opinion, it’s more than a welcome development. It’s a landmark achievement and a cutting edge as far as sports development is concerned in Nigeria. It puts Nigeria in a good state for even future developments as far as achievement is concerned.

It becomes a reference point. People can see what concocted and went around in terms of achieving that gold-winning fit.”

The permanent secretary, of the Ministry of Sports Development, Atinuke Watti, the General Secretary of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Dr.Sanusi Mohammed, and other top sports stakeholders were present at the event to lend their support to the project.

Sports Minister Signs MOU On Film Project To Relive Atlanta ’96