Niger inaugurates sport associations

By Correspondent in Minna.

As it battles to contain banditry and Kidnapping,Niger state government has inaugurated 26 Sport Associations with a charge on them to use sports as a bait to discourage youths from taking to crime and other forms of criminalities.

Our Correspondent reports that the
inaugurated members were drawn from; private and public sector, military, para-military, civilians and business men/women to work out strategies.

Inaugurating the associations in Minna, which include members of Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN), Governor Abubarkar Sani Bello, represented by the state Commissioner Youth and Sports, Alhaji Abdulmalik Sarkin-Daji,also enjoined the leadership of the associations to do all that they could to use sports in checking all forms of youths’ restiveness.

“As you stand inaugurated today, I urge you to work out modalities to use sports as bait to depleting the number of youth that has taken to crime, including armed banditry by encouraging them to embrace different types of sports as a vocation,” Bello said.

With the state grappling with diverse security challenge, including attacks and killings by ISWAP/Boko-Haram/Armed Banditry, Governor Bello said the state could not afford to have more of its future leaders enmeshed in criminal mindset,hence the inauguration of the association.

“Many of our youths are roaming the streets and I want to believe that you will engage them in the different sporting activities as a way of not only discouraging them from taking to crime but to check youth restiveness in our state,”he added.

Governor Bello, however, reminded the associations on the need to solicit for support from private and corporate organisations, in order to achieve the desired goals, adding that government with lean resources could notmeet all the needs of citizenry.

Responding on behalf of others, the Chairman,Volleyball Association, Mr. Shuaibu Iya, assured of commitmentof the associations towards actualising the common goal of diverting more youths away from crime to embracing sports as a vocation.

The State Director of Sports, Alhaji Baba Sheshi, had earlier enjoined the association members to deploy needed good human resources management skills, attractive to youths without which it would be difficult to pull them out from evil thoughts that leading them to committing crime.

The associations inaugurated include: Football, Badminton, Squash, Table tennis, Volleyball, Kick-boxing, Karate, Kung-fu, Weightlifting, Base/softball, Basketball, Judo Scrabble, Chess, Taekwondo, Swimming, Athletics, Hockey, Wrestling and Special sports.

Edited by Dada Ahmed.