The Nigeria Cricket Federation will appoint a Cricket Services Manager for the women’s national team for the first time ever and direct fifty per cent of revenues to funding women’s cricket, a move which it says is geared towards developing the women’s game.

NCF president Professor Yahaya Ukwenya made the revelation in an appearance on Channels Television where he disclosed the Federation’s commitment to equal treatment for men’s and women’s cricket.

Women’s cricket in particular has found a resurgence under the Ukwenya-led NCF.

The women’s national team faced Rwanda in a bilateral series early last year in what was their first international outing in years and the team recorded another first when they competed for the first-ever time at the 2019 ICC World Cup Africa Women’s Qualifiers in Zimbabwe where they defeated Mozambique and lost to Rwanda.

Ukwenya said the NCF intends to build on the foundations laid so far for the women’s game by employing dedicated personnel and increasing funding to ensure rapid development of women’s cricket.

“We have a very important plan for female cricket. We are on the verge of employing for the first time, female Cricket Services Manager who will oversee female cricket specifically,” Ukwenya told Channels TV.

“The other thing we have planned is that fifty per cent of the resources and investment of grassroots development will go to the girls because we feel this is an area we can work on.”

In addition to dedicated coaches and increased funding for the women, Ukwenya said the NCF will continue organising Inter-State competitions for female cricketers to ensure steady engagement and regular competition for the players.

“Again, we have a female competition that we are going to continue regularly.

“Inter-State Competitions will see that those crop of players that are playing at the moment are competing regularly and we are getting the best out of them.

“Whatever we put into male cricket, we are also equally putting into female cricket as well because we are behind in this area. We didn’t start female cricket development early in Nigeria. Nevertheless, we hope that within a few years from now, we should be able to compete favourably with the best female teams on the continent.”