Success Damian:
The event which was held on the 11th of
May, 2021 at Ajeromi/Ifelodun Council Secretariat, with the theme ‘Community
Sports Ownership: Gateway to curbing youth restiveness, unemployment’,
stakeholders agreed that grassroots and community sports development was
capable of taking the youths out of the street while at the same time becoming
a great source of employment in the community.
McAnthony Anaelechukwu, Special Adviser to the Ajeromi/Ifelodun
Council Chairman on Sports and the Convener of the Summit, in his opening
remarks spoke on the reason for the event. “Today, we dig deep into the
seemingly insurmountable problems bedeviling Sports development in
Ajeromi/Ifelodun. We are going to peruse into the past and bring to the fore
what made us produce talents for various national teams; look at the present where
we are today and see what we are not doing right; then take a cursory look into
the future with the singular goal of taking our rightful place on the pinnacle of
world sports.”
Anaelechukwu assuring prudent management of funds,
stated that for the community sports to succeed there is need for commitment by
all and sundry “This cannot be achieved without you sitting in this hall today.
Together, we can produce those talents that can take the world by storm.
Together we shall all speak with one voice and create job opportunities for our
youths through meaningful involvement in sports,” Anaelechukwu said.
He went further to stress that even though there have
been other summits in Agjegune, Sport Summit 2.0 was specifically designed to
give back to the community “We have been having other summits, but this
particular one came into being because we want to give back to the community,
because you know, in foreign lands you see a team like Barcelona, Manchester
United, they are being owned by the community, they are the stakeholders, they
are the card carrying members of the clubs, they are the ones that pay to
become members of those clubs, and if they stand up to say we don’t want this
or that president, that president leaves. It was the fans that chased Asene
Wenger out of Arsenal; Barcelona is owned by the community, by that Catalans.” He
said.
Anaelechukwu maintained that the essence of the
summit was to sensitise the community on how they can join hands to ensure a formidable
sports development while also promoting crime free society and creating
employment opportunities for the youth in the community.
He disclosed the role of the Royal Fathers in sports
development of Ajegunle “And that is what we are trying to do. And we can’t
achieve that without the Baales, who are the traditional custodians of laws and
culture of the land; that is why you see the Baales, all represented, nine of
them. And that is why you see the CDAs and the CDC, 39 CDA chairmen were all
present today, the CDC Excos were here today too.
Speaking on the readiness of the traditional rulers
to cue into the dream he said “The Chairman of the Local Government has called
them, had a meeting with them telling them there is a competition we are bringing
up, it is called Community Shield, this competition each Baale will own a team,
Baale of Awodiora will bring his own team, all residents of Awodiora, every
player must come from that community. Baale Ayetoro will bring his team, nine
of them, there will be competition, where the winner will go home with
N1million, second prize N500000, third prize, N250000. We are starting it after
this Sallah.
“You will see that there will be room for
competition, by the time this community wins two times, other ones too will
like to work harder, so no community, no Baale will like to be left behind, no
matter how old, thank God they are not that old,” McAnthony stated.
Hon. Fatai Adekunle Ayoola, the Executive Chairman of
Ajeromi/Ifelodun Local Governmnent, used the opportunity to disclose some of
his efforts in the local government that were devoted to sports development.
He said among the promises he made while contesting
for the chairmanship position were infrastructure, health and sports
development, adding that he would like Ajeromi/Ifelodun to be known for sports.
Ayoola said there are 71 public schools in primary and secondary in
his council, the highest in the whole federation, saying that it is a credit to
his administration that since he came on board, no teacher has been owed Salary.
He asserted that his government embarked on renovation
of schools immediately he took over the administration of the council, and in doing
that he combine it with knowledge of technology, so that the children are
exposed to what their mates are experiencing in the private sector, “The schools
are equipped with ICT centres, Libraries and sports complexes.” He also spoke
glowingly about the Ajegunle Maracana Stadium
Hon Ayoola also inaugurated the Ajeromi Sports
Council, he emphasized that there is a law guiding the sports council and that
the law stipulates that there will be election in every three years, reminding
members that they can be voted out for non-performance.
Panelists at the event include Desmond Ekwueme,
Publisher Complete Sports, High Chief Mike Orobosa, Peter Nieketein, and Austin
Popo, Ifeanyi Udeze, Former Super Eagles player. They all agreed that sports
play a critical role in ensuring crime-free society while generating huge
employment opportunities.
Desmond Ekwueme while encouraging community sports, decried
absence of sports policy in the country. He said for the sports development
agenda of the present administration in the local government to survive, there
should be continuity in implementation of sports policy.
Peter Nieketein on his part stated that sports is a
unifying factor and called for its encouragement.
No comments:
Post a Comment