Osun govt to organise Sports Festival, revive Principals’ Cup, other games
By Timothy Agbor, Osogbo
Osun State Government has said it would revive Governor Cup, Principals’ Cup, Headmasters’ Cup and other games that have been neglected in the state.
Commissioner for Youth and Sports in the State, Mr. Yemi Lawal, while speaking in Osogbo at a monthly Stakeholders Platform organised by the State Chapter of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) on Wednesday at the Osogbo Township Stadium, revealed that the revitalisation of the sporting activities would assist stakeholders in discovering talents among youngsters in the state.
He lamented series of protests and public outcries by athletes and lack of cooperation of other stakeholders in the state sports’ sector and disclosed that they were mitigating against expected development of sports.
The Commissioner said people failed to understand the sports policy he wanted to bring into the state’s sports sector and that “they want to be doing things in the old way that had never produced any significant achievements in the sports sector of the state.”
Lawal maintained that his desire to do things differently as a youth met stiff resistance from people in the sports sector and therefore solicited for the understanding of athletes and other concerned stakeholders so as to rejuvenate sports.
“As a youth, I want to do things differently but people didn’t understand this. This led to series of protests which enveloped my tenure. The thing is we cannot be doing things the same way and expect different result. We have to think out of the box and bring on board new system.
“Osun has never made any significant achievement in sports because there is no record to show for it. Even in the recently concluded National Sports Festival which our athletes participated, I haven’t seen any report from the sports council to show our strength and weaknesses. This current challenge we are going through will continue until we all retrace our steps and agree to do things the right way.”
Speaking on efforts of the present administration to reposition the sector, the Commissioner revealed that Governor Gboyega Oyetola has approved the proposal to organise Sports Festival to discover more talents across the nooks and crannies of the state.
“One of the efforts we are putting in place to identify new talents is the upcoming State Sports Festival which has been approved by Mr. Governor and will come up by August this year. We discovered that we have been recycling same athletes for national competitions and it is high time we replaced them with new, agile ones to be able to produce new champions in all categories of sports.”
On the sports facilities available, Lawal who admitted that the state does not have enough sports facilities said the Ministry would liaise with other towns and institutions like Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife to use some of their facilities for the upcoming event.
“It is true that our sports facilities in Osun are not enough. We have decided to partner with OAU Ile Ife and other institutions that have sports facilities that we can make use of during the state festival.”
The commissioner however assured that Osun SWAN would be properly carried along in any sporting events organised by the state government for required publicity and promotion.
Earlier in his address of welcome, the Chairman of Osun SWAN, Mr Timothy Agbor assured the state government of the association’s support to ensuring that sport develops in the state.
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