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As part of measures aimed at harnessing students potential in sports, the FCT Administration recently signed an agreement with a private investor to help promote sport development and management in the territory.
At the signing of memorandum of understanding between the administration and Ratels Sports Development Foundation, on Annual School Sports Festival, Permanent Secretary of the FCTA, Olusade Adesola, said the funding of sports by government without the involvement of private sectors was no longer visible.
He said the involvement of private sectors in funding of sporting activities was now the norm across the globe and Nigeria cannot afford to be left out.
He said, “When I was in Youth and Sports, during some of our sports participation abroad, I observed that some of the officials that come from different countries are not really government officials, some are from private sectors hired by those countries.
“So I had to suggest it to my minister at the Youth and Sports then and it was approved. That was why, when I saw your proposal I was happy about this partnership because government can not fund sports alone.”
Earlier, the president and founder, Ratels Sports Development Foundation, Paul Edeh, stressed that the importance of sports development in schools can not be overemphasized, noting that the school system remains the best place to catch and groom young stars, due to their regular sports activities.
“Today, history is being made as this would be the first time a program of this kind would be conceptualized to host schools festival with private sector for an initial period of 5 years which will guarantee the sustainability and consistency of the programme.
“Our approach to this partnership is not limited to hosting the FCT Schools Sports Festival alone but to groom, monitor, mentor and nurture the talents discovered during the festival.
“The target for the FCT Schools Sports Festival are boys and girls in Primary, Junior and Senior Secondary Schools in the FCT. The event would accommodate the following sporting activities in both male and female categories such as football, basketball, volleyball, athletics, table tennis, badminton, javelin, chess, amongst others.
In his remarks, Secretary, FCT Education Secretariat, Sani Dahir El- Katuzu, disclosed that sports has an important role in achieving health targets of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, particularly the goal of increasing physical activities by 15 percent over the next decade.
“This MoU is to impact our student’s education and health, promote tolerance, discipline and respect as it will help empower our boys and girls.
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