The Minister of Sport, Youth and National Service, Jerry Ekandjo, has said that government considers sport to be an important element in nation building. Delivering his keynote speech at the annual sport awards, which saw local athletes being awarded for their hard work and dedication on Friday night, Ekandjo confirmed that sport is facing various challenges at the moment. According to him, the public thinks that government is not taking sport seriously. He reiterated that troubled finances and competing priorities are the problem and not a lack of interest in sport by government. S/up: The fact that this reassurance does not correlate to the budget allocated to the Ministry does not mean that our government does not recognise sports as such. We simply have limited financial resources and competing priorities and I therefore call on sporting fraternity to be patient with our government. While calling for patience, Ekandjo also used the platform to urge different private companies to invest in sport. "The current situation where almost none of the sports codes have no sponsor is discoursing and unfortunate, but we should not give up" added the minister