—-Offers Insights To Sen Enoh’s Sports Development Plans
Hon Adeyinka Adeboye, newly appointed Special Assistant on Grassroots Sports to sen John Enoh, Minister of Sports Development, has stated that charity must begin from home for stakeholders in the nation’s sports family, a reason why, in collaboration with Mr Kumbi Titiloye, chairman, Kwara United, and other great sons of Kwara, a new Football House is coming to the state.
“It is going to be the biggest in Nigeria if not Africa and we already have five hectares of land alotted to it in Oro, my birth place.
“Kumbi, other great sons of Kwara and I are already working on it and in a few months you will start seeing things,” he explained to team of Journalists in Asaba, Delta State where he accompanied his principal, Sen Enoh, for the ongoing 7th National Youths Games, NYG.
Hon Adeboye, a seasoned administrator in diverse fields but chiefly in the areas of sports development further explained the new policy is to see how the private sector can be encouraged to do more in growing sports at the grassroots especially from their place of birth.
Earlier in Asaba, the minister hinted to newsmen that he will be working more on seamless transition between the two sub-sectors of sports viz: grassroots to elite sports.
What we are going to do is that we going to replecate what we have done in Lagos in Kwara State.
“I am the Sinior Special Assistant to the Minister on Grassroots Sports Development development and I can assure you that our pilot initiative on sports development will start from Kwara State.
“Let me also assure you that we are going to reach all nooks and crannies in Kwara and as soon as I get back to Abuja, I am going to table this before the Minister.
He explained that Lagos demontrates how private sector can help in sports development.
“Lagos has been known as the sporting hub of the country. We want Kwara to be known too as a sporting center. We are making attempts at bringing everybody into it.
“We have great Kwara sons and daughters in Lagos, we are going to bring them back to develop our state. The younger generation has to wake up. It is high time to educate the younger generation as well. We particularly need to bring in the business people to help develope sports Baba Ijebu is not from Lagos, he is from Ogun state, but he invested a lot in Lagos State in the areas of sports.
“Same for Dangote, Mike Adenuga, Dangote, BUA all are not originally from Lagos but did a lot for sports in Lagos. We want to start encouraging these sports loving philanthropists to give back to the grassroots as well.
“A lot of people think that only government can sponsor sports successfully but that is not true. A lot still can be done by the private sector and that is what the minister will be fully exploiting in the days ahead,” he said.
