Leadership (Abuja)
Salifu Usman
24 October 2009
Abuja — Nigerians are passionate and sports-loving people who, in early times, have devoted themselves to such sports as wrestling, archery, hunting, racing, swimming, boat regattas, acrobatic displays, etc. In colonial times, primary school children gathered annually throughout the country in towns and city fields on Empire Day (May 24) for sporting events such as 100 yards and relay races, for both boys and girls.
In view of the above, and realising the importance of sports as a source of livelihood for teeming youths across the globe, Abuja, Nigeria's capital city's master plan was designed to accommodate sporting infrastructure in all neighborhoods of the city to help actualise the dream of youths who will choose sports as a career for sustainable development.
But after 32 years as Nigeria's capital city, Abuja cannot boast of a mini-standard stadium for athletes! The Area 10 Sports Complex is a shadow of itself, without facilities that could enhance sporting activities, and all neighborhoods, areas or zones expected to accommodate sporting infrastructure and facilities have been taken over by residential building and private business malls. No previous administration in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has made attempts to develop it for sustainable youth empowerment, in spite of the fact that sports have continually caused Nigerians to concede to unity, progress and dialogue, irrespective of age, religion and ethnicity.
Today however, there is a new approach to sports development in the FCT, since the emergence of Senator Muhammadu Adamu Aliero as the minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The minister, not oblivious of the importance of sports to youth empowerment and sustainable development, on assumption of office towards the end of last year, promised to identify all areas originally designed for sports infrastructure in Abuja's master plan and develop these areas.
The sports-loving Senator, ever-determined and willing to make youths happy, revoked some of the plots meant for sports facilities, which have been taken over by residencies and private business malls. This is because, according to him, it is a matter of public interest. One of such areas, Area 3, Garki, Abuja, which has been earmarked for the construction of the Abuja Stadium has eluded being developed by previous administrations now wears a new look thanks to a modern artificial turf, thus becoming an available alternative to the Abuja National Stadium, upon the completion of other logistics like tartan athletics tracks, long/triple jump tracks and spectator seats for international sporting events. Outside the Area 3 mini-stadium dome, other sports facilities like volleyball, and lawn-tennis courts and an Olympic-sized swimming pool, to mention a few are springing up in different venues across the capital city of Abuja.
Being the former Kebbi State governor, he is not oblivious of the fact that Abuja has lost billions of naira following previous administrations' failure to develop sports infrastructure and facilities in Abuja, he explored available means to develop the Area 3 Sports Centre with an artificial turf, with the support of world football governing body, FIFA, as FCT will significantly benefit from hosting the on-going FIFA U-17 World Cup Nigeria 2009. Knowing that sports development depends on talents and unless effective machinery is put in place, no success will be recorded, he assured on his administration's determination to develop all areas mapped out for sports infrastructure in Abuja's master plan.
Speaking to leadership Sunday sports on the zeal of Aliero to carve a new niche for sports in the FCT as a reference point for other states, FCT director of sports, Muhammed Alim Musa believes the new developments will go a long way to help realise the dreams of the city's founding fathers. "This is our toast, the toast of a long-lasting legacy for youth development and empowerment. We have never had it so good with sports in the FCT. I have been engaged in running sports affairs in the FCT since 1982 but no administration has ever made such a bold attempt to provide sports infrastructure like this present administration. The Area 3 Sports Centre which is now being developed into a mini-sports stadium, has suffered a lot of neglect in the past by various administrations.
In 1987, the contract for the construction of the stadium was awarded to Stone Products Company for N1.5m but nothing was done about it. In 1993, the contract for the construction of the stadium was awarded to another company, Julius Berger Nig. Plc. at the cost of N35m. Berger did some cleaning, and part-payment was made but that was until date.
"For this administration to come into power within a year and be able to achieve this within a short time, I think FCT residents will not forget this legacy in a hurry," Alim stated.
Also, according to reports, the minister in his quest to develop sports in the FCT to an enviable level (one that will provide a livelihood for the unemployed youths who roam the streets) has promised to sustain the FCT inter- collegiate athletics championship, tagged 'Athletes of Hope.'
FCT Athletes of Hope meet is an annual athletics championship conceptualised to give school sports meet the desired dose of publicity at the school level. The programme which was designed to drive Nigeria's bid to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Abuja but adopted by the FCT sports administration, is projected to inject $2,6000,000 into FCT's economy through the buying of fast food, wears, souvenirs and phone calls by the year 2020, when the event would have gone international. This is based on assumption by organisers that each visiting child and youth will spend $200, for the duration of the championship.
Bearing in mind that the ultimate goal of youth sports development is to nurture children's intrinsic motivation for sports, Senator Aliero has also endorsed three inter-ward grass-roots competition to be held in the six area councils of the FCT.
According to FCT's director of sports, Muhammed Alim Musa, the three competitions have since commenced, with the FCT First Lady Cup leading on with a lot of enthusiasm and funfair among youths at the grass-roots. These competitions are targeted towards promoting self-regulation, skill, and feelings of competence among youths at the grass-roots level, stressing that grass-roots sports competition play a key role in engaging citizens in societal challenges by promoting the instrumental value of sports as a means to delivering better health, social integration, and economic empowerment. All three competitions, starting with the on-going First Lady Cup, Minister of State U-13 Cup and the FCT Minister's U-18 Cup will kick-start from the ward levels of all area councils in the FCT to state level. Every ward of each area council is to play the preliminaries at its respective domain to select a team that will represent them at the council level (i.e inter- ward competition). After the inter-wards, the best teams to emerge from all the area councils will converge to play the inter-area council competition, which is expected to continue annually.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 Leadership. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
