Host of the 18th National Sports Festival, Lagos, has said that
developing her athletes to global standards rather than winning at all
costs, remains a top priority for the state. Lagos State Commissioner
for Sports and Youth Development, Wahid Enitan-Oshodi, insisted
yesterday that nothing was going to distract the Governor Babatunde Raji
Fashola from from that policy thrust.
Enitan-Oshodi, however, observed that that did not preclude the state from picking the top spot from the ongoing EKO 2012, having put so much effort into preparing Lagos athletes to excel. “Governor Fashola has not said that Lagos was not interested in winning Eko 2012. What he said was that developing our athletes from the grassroots would remain the focal point of his administration rather that dissipating energies on how to win with poached athletes,” observed Enitan-Oshodi at an interactive session in Lagos yesterday.
He revealed that the state in February hired six foreign coaches including American Lee Evans to help transform Lagos sports from the grassroots. The coaches are handling the states’ track and field events, swimming, weightlifting, boxing and rowing at the on-going games. The commissioner stressed that the youth development focus of the Fashola Administration informed why the opening ceremony was largely dominated by youths. “The colourful opening ceremony we presented to Nigerians and the global audience was deliberately focused on youths. We planned it to be a celebration of the youth since the focus is to discover talents.
We did not want the controversies of the past editions where states were at one another’s throats on who is overall winner. For us in Lagos, the slogan is: Free and fair games,” he noted. On whether the festival should be thrown open to every Nigerian irrespective of where he/she is based, Enitan-Oshodi insisted that Lagos has no quarrel with that. “What that, however, means is that only the richest state will continue to win the National Sports Festival,” he cautioned The Lagos Sports Commissioner pleaded with other states to concentrate of developing their school sports if Nigeria was to truly make head way now and in the future.
“We in Lagos have instituted measures to revamp our school sports. We
have top grade facilities in place for use by youths. There are now
quarterly competitions, funded by the state. There is the monthly boxing
Hall of Fame drawing attention to the sport once again. These and many
others are being used to refocus attention on the grassroots. Even the
Lagos Principals’ Cup that has been revamped has not reached the
position of glamour we planned for it yet,” stressed Enitan-Oshodi.
Enitan-Oshodi, however, observed that that did not preclude the state from picking the top spot from the ongoing EKO 2012, having put so much effort into preparing Lagos athletes to excel. “Governor Fashola has not said that Lagos was not interested in winning Eko 2012. What he said was that developing our athletes from the grassroots would remain the focal point of his administration rather that dissipating energies on how to win with poached athletes,” observed Enitan-Oshodi at an interactive session in Lagos yesterday.
He revealed that the state in February hired six foreign coaches including American Lee Evans to help transform Lagos sports from the grassroots. The coaches are handling the states’ track and field events, swimming, weightlifting, boxing and rowing at the on-going games. The commissioner stressed that the youth development focus of the Fashola Administration informed why the opening ceremony was largely dominated by youths. “The colourful opening ceremony we presented to Nigerians and the global audience was deliberately focused on youths. We planned it to be a celebration of the youth since the focus is to discover talents.
We did not want the controversies of the past editions where states were at one another’s throats on who is overall winner. For us in Lagos, the slogan is: Free and fair games,” he noted. On whether the festival should be thrown open to every Nigerian irrespective of where he/she is based, Enitan-Oshodi insisted that Lagos has no quarrel with that. “What that, however, means is that only the richest state will continue to win the National Sports Festival,” he cautioned The Lagos Sports Commissioner pleaded with other states to concentrate of developing their school sports if Nigeria was to truly make head way now and in the future.
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