Keeping Lagos Athletes Busy

Editorial

Despite the holiday for the Eid-el-Fitri, Lagos State athletes were busy competing in the Quarterly Inter-Clubs Competition throughout the period. Between now and December, series of these competitions will be staged by 36 sports associations in the state. The inter-clubs competitions are multi-sports championships designed to complement sponsorships drive to keep athletes of the state busy. They are also veritable platforms through which new athletes could be discovered for future national competitions.

The state’s Ministry of Youth, Sports and Social Development and the Office of Grassroots Sports Development in the Governor’s Office, the two parastatals which facilitated the financial resources for the competition, said the benefit inherent in organising the inter-clubs tournaments is to engage new/old athletes where individuals, private clubs (enterprises, small shop owners/offices), corporate organisations (banks, insurance offices) and public institutions in all the activities.

Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola directed that at least half or not less than 50 percent of the approved grant for each sport association is set aside as prize monies directly to the athletes whose clubs excel in these quarterly competitions. This is to empower the athletes.

The essence of the competition is to fast track more participation of clubs at several levels, both private and public, and to register such clubs with relevant sports associations to enable them participate in these regular sporting competitions that are now athletes-centered.

The thinking of government is that it is not when major tournaments are around the corner that the state should search for athletes. That is why Lagos wants to do away with the fire-brigade approach which Nigerian sports is generally known for.

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We believe that apart from the inter-clubs competitions being a platform for the discovery of athletes, it will greatly help keep the multi-million naira sports facilities used at the last Eko 2012 National Sports Festival in good shape.

The need to keep the youth busy through sports, as being done by the Lagos State government, is step in the right direction at a time the nation is facing very serious security challenges. Idle youths could easily be conscripted by those undermining the nation’s security in various ways.

Other states of the federation, including the Federal Government, through the National Sports Commission, NSC,  should embrace this lofty idea. Because of the dearth of tournaments, the Abuja National Stadium constructed with tax payers’ money was in a bad state until recently when outcry by Nigerians forced the government to give it a facelift.

There is no doubt that the prize monies the athletes would get from these inter-clubs competitions would also help them in meeting up their daily needs. The competitions will also provide employment to many when new clubs join these sporting activities. It is envisaged that an average of 36,000 new athletes would have new sources of livelihood while taking part in games such as judo, boxing, weightlifting, wrestling, soccer, basketball, athletics, cycling, table tennis, etc. for these clubs.

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