KADUNA, North-West, Nigeria – No fewer than 40 schools are expected to participate in the maiden edition of Faith Academy Mini Secondary Schools Sports Festival billed to commenced June 22, 2018.
Chairman of Faith Academy Sports Committee, Nden Emmanuel disclosed this at an inaugural press briefing held at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna on Tuesday, May 22, 2018.
Speaking on behalf of the Main Organising Committee (MOC), Emmanuel said the sporting event which aimed at giving back to the society, is organised by the school in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports, North-West zone and Youth Sports Federation of Nigeria (YSFON), Kaduna State chapter.
“We are doing this because sports is a vital tool for development of young people. The Sports committee of Faith Academy was set up on March 29 this year and went into planning of this event.
“The event will commenced Friday 22 – Saturday 23, June 2018 and already we have started putting logistics in place. It will feature track and field events. We want to introduce board games like Scrabble and Chess, as well as racket games also.
“We hope to invite 40 private and public schools in Kaduna. The festival will also serve as a talent hunt for the state,” he said.
Fielding questions from newsmen, Principal of Faith Academy Kaduna, represented by the school’s Sports Facilitator, Coach Felix Oseibe said the school has programmes targeted at all round development of it students.
On how to ensure talents developed are not left to waste, he said government needs to come up with programmes for discovered talents in the state.
“During holidays, the government should assemble athletes and groom them. The ministry and state should also be providing transport subsidy and training kits for athletes. There should be a running programme, and games masters refresher courses should be introduced,” he suggested.
He explained that in his personal capacity, he has a foundation – Coach Felix Academics and Sports Foundation which caters for students talented in sports; and also guide those that have graduated from school.
In his remarks, the Zonal Coordinator North-West, Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, Mr. Olushola Luke, represented by Abdullahi Idris said that at the zonal level, based on the mandate of the Ministry, they keep tab on talents discovered.
Similarly, the Director of School Sports Kaduna State, Abel Yakubu disclosed that the State Government has plans to host a similar competition. He added that although not much of public schools will feature.
“Kaduna is always willing to support any group that is hosting any event. We will support Faith Academy in this event. The State Government is doing its best in terms of talent development but more needs to be done,” he added.
Also present at the briefing was the Kaduna State YSFON Secretary, Alhaji Abdulrazak Usman.