14th March, 2013
Following the poor performance of Team Nigeria to the London 2012 Olympic Games, the National Sports Commission, NSC, has resolved to rekindle the development of sports at the grassroots level to discover budding talents that will represent Nigeria at future international competitions.
A Director in the NSC, Alhassan Yakmut, who represented the Sports Minister, Bolaji Abdullahi, at the grand finale of the Premier Lotto Lagos Athletic Championship, said that it has been difficult for the country to find suitable replacement for her ageing athletes because governments at various levels have abandoned sports at the grassroots especially school sports.
According to him, five states of the federation, Ekiti, Delta, Kwara, Ondo, and Lagos States have revamped their school sports competitions with the target of discovering young talents, adding that with what he saw at the Dr. D.K. Olukoya U-18 Youth Athletics Championship and the Premier Lotto Lagos State Athletic Championship, Nigerian athletes would bounce back to international reckoning very soon.
He said the Minister of Sports, Abdullahi, has put in place a policy that would create an opportunity for athletes discovered to be invited to national camp three times a year in four centres across the country under the tutelage of renowned coaches.
Yakmut said the commission had initiated an Athlete Detection Programme which would afford the discovered athletes to undergo scientific athletic programme with international standards. He added that the minister has directed all the secretaries of the sports federations to embark on school sports programme.
Yakmut, who oversees the department of Grassroots Sports Development in the NSC, explained that the National Youth Games being proposed for September, 2013 is another avenue to fish out young talents for the country.