An ex-international footballer, Mutiu Adepoju, has given kudos to the Oyo State Government for reviving the Oyo State Governor’s Cup, a football competition among secondary schools in the state.
Adepoju, who called for the urgent revival of all school sports in Nigeria, said he was a product of such a programme and that the importance of it could not be quantified.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Adepoju disclosed this in Ibadan at a news conference to herald the upcoming governor’s cup competition.
According to him, all grassroots sporting events that have gone down the drain should be revived, and proper mechanisms put in place to ensure they keep running smoothly.
This, he said, would result in having a positive impact on our youths.
“I’m particularly happy about this competition and it’s good that it’s happening here in Oyo State.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve had this type of competition at the secondary school level.
“I took part in competitions like this in my time; this is a good way to detect future stars for proper and adequate guidance,” he said.
Adepoju, who described himself as an advocate of raising educated footballers, said if educated footballers were not raised, there wouldn’t be future leaders to develop football.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner for Youths and Sports, Wasilat Adegoke, reinstated that the Governor Seyi Makinde-led administration was geared to fulfil all the promises made to the youths.
Adegoke said the governor was, particularly, concerned about the youths in the state.
The Commissioner for Education and Technology, Prof. Salihu Adelabu, commended the organiser for their initiative of bringing students together.
“We all know the importance of sports, not only in Oyo State but Nigeria as a whole. For us, sport is the only thing that unites and harmonises us as a nation.
“When it comes to sports, we, in the Ministry of Education, can’t overemphasise the importance of sports because we have three major domains we want to develop in our youths, I mean children in the schools.
” We have the cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains.
So, all sporting activities are meant to develop the psychomotor domain in our children, and we can never take what you are doing for granted.
“We also always emphasise extramural activities.
“On behalf of the Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, we appreciate what you are doing as we want the sponsor to do more,” he said.
The convener, Yomi Elijah, said the competition aimed to revive school sports, already becoming history in the country.
“The young ones don’t have where they focus so much energy on.
“We had opportunities when we were young, so we want to see how to get talents out of the streets,” he said.
According to him, any student above the age of 18 years is not eligible to participate in the competition, which is open to JSS1-SS2 students only.
He said that the state Ministry of Youths and Sports and the Ministry of Education and Technology would be in charge of monitoring the competition.
“The local government eliminations will start by May 12 and end May 22, as the zonal eliminations are scheduled for May 28 to May 31.
“The quarter-finals will be played at Ikolaba High School and Loyola College; as the semi-finals are scheduled for the Lekan Salami Stadium on June 7.
“Meanwhile, the final will be played on June 10 at the same venue.
“Individuals identified as mercenaries will be banned and blacklisted from any organised football competition in the state and the country through the Oyo State Football Federation and the Nigeria Football Federation,” he said.
NAN reports that the competition is being organised by the Schools Sports Foundation in collaboration with the Oyo State Government.
It is sponsored by Peculiar Ultimate Concerns. (NAN)
