Sports dev: ube to partner Nigeria school sports federation

The Universal Basic Education Commission has said it will partner the Nigeria School Sports Federation in the development of grass root sports through the school system in the renewed effort geared towards the discovering and nurturing of young and talented athletes for the country.

The acting executive secretary of the Commission, Charles Onocha said it would require concerted effort in discovering this athletes at the grass root as well as achieve the  desired result in sports  and to this end,  the Universal Basic Education Commission will do everything in its power to support  the evolution of sports in educational institutions in the country.

UBE Scribe said the commission is worried by the poor state of affairs in sports in the country and therefore pledged its support to the Nigeria School Sports Federation efforts in reviving the ugly trend that has taking it toil on the nation’s performance in international competition.

Onocha said if the country had sustained the priority given to grass root sports especially schools sports in 70s and 80s, the nation would have been basking in the euphoria of success that would have been realized now. Noting that most of the countries that won medals at the recently concluded Olympic Games in London laid their foundation many years ago

Onocha said while receiving the officials of the Nigeria Schools Sports Federation led by its President Ibrahim Mohammed in his office in Abuja that all hands need to be on deck in reviving grass root sports especially schools sports in the country.

He commended the efforts of the NSSF even as he also tasked the body to be open and upright in their dealings so as to attract sponsorship for its programmes.

Onocha said UBE will do its best to give the needed support to the body in its drive to revamp sports in the country through the participations of pupils and students in primary and secondary schools in the country.

He said  the commission will look into the possibility of donating trophies to be competed for among schools and charged the federation to ensure its affiliates at the level do the right thing to encourage parents, corporate bodies and their State government in the quest to changing the face of sports positively in the nation.

Earlier, the NSSF President Ibrahim Mohammed explained that their visit to the commission is to seek their support for the evolution of sports in the country through schools.

Mohammed said the partnership with the commission is key to the success of the new direction as what has happened in recent sports meet is indicative that if the appropriate line of action is not taken the country will be the worst off in the nearest future.

While commending Ondo, Rivers, Kano, Niger, Adamawa and Ogun States governments for their efforts, explained that any nation that fails to discover her potentials at the early stages will remain in the back seat in the sports circle, pointing out that the success story of China is enough testimony for Nigeria to have a rethink towards sports development in schools.

Posted by on August 17, 2012. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.