Nigeria joined twelve other countries in the world when she launched the British Council International Inspiration, a United Kingdom led school sports development programme inspired by the 2012 London Olympics.

The International Inspiration Nigeria was officially launched at the Abuja National Stadium on Monday and it is aimed at reaching 12 million children and young people of all abilities, in 20 countries, by 2012. And this is to brings to reality the promise made by the London 2012 bid team to use sport to enrich and transform the lives of the youth around the world.

According to the programme, Nigerian schools will partner with schools in the UK at both primary and secondary level, share best practices and learn from one another.

Also International Inspiration is also a partnership between UK Sport, the British Council and UNICEF.

These international agencies will collaborate with the Federal Ministry of Education, the National Sports Commission and Ministry for Sport to achieve the objectives the programme was set out for. Ultimately, hundreds of thousands of children and young people stand to benefit from the three year project.

UNICEF Deputy Representative in Nigeria, Jacques Boyer, noted that sport is a vital instrument that can play a balancing role both in health and educational development of children.