Parents of over 1000 newly discovered sports talents now called ‘Abia Ninjas’ have pleaded with the state governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, not to allow the lofty goals of the newly introduced Abia State Grassroots Sports Development Initiative (ABGRASOD) to crash like most others.
The parents of the 1020 talented sports kids fished out of the 17 local council areas of the state during recent trials (January 2017) who thronged the Michael Okpara Centre in Umuahia on Thursday, February 16, 2017, praised the scheme, saying it was sure to impact massively at the grassroots and reduce misdirection of the youth of the state into world class stars.
ABGRASOD is a partnership scheme between the Abia State Government (through the Ministry of Sports) and Praik-Aplied Nigeria aimed at fishing out sports talents at teenage level (11 – 15 years), camping them consistently and developing them until they hit the national and international scenes. The scheme hopes to turn them into money machines in future for themselves, their state and the nation and reduce pressure on the state government on employment. It is also a plan to introduce business lines in sports and coordinate the participation of the private sector in sports development in Nigeria with Ikpeazu’s Abia State as a pilot state. The scheme is expected to be a serious foreign exchange earner for Abia and for Nigeria, if well managed.
The idea was said to have been well received by the Abia State Governor, himself a keen lover of sports and youths and he ordered a steering committee with aides from the Ministry of Sports, Youth and other collaborate units of government. The steering committee is headed by the CEO of Praik-Applied Nigeria, Iroha Kalu (Prince).
ABGRASOD is said to have secured the collaboration of many international agents to receive the talents to be discovered and groomed in Abia State.
The selected kids now called Abia Ninjas were flagged off on Tuesday, February 7, 2017, at the Umuahia township stadium where the governor, represented by the sports commissioner, Chinwe Nwanganga, promised the building of sports centres in the local councils to enable discovered talents to undergo intensive training without having to come to the state capital always.
The main activities kicked off on Thursday (Feb 16, 2017) with a sports summit which was to be graced by 42 ambassadors and the senate president but had to be scaled down to first get the input of the local community and the parents who are the core equity holders in the 1020 Ninjas that form the first batch.
Parent after parent took the floor to appeal passionately to the state chief executive not to let the people down but to ensure that this once-in-a lifetime opportunity does not slip or be allowed to derail or decay.
Their concerns centred on need for fair selection, substitution of the talented children with children of the rich, safety of the children, etc. A man who gave his name as Chinedu Michael asked: “Will it be about selecting the children of the rich and ignore the poor as usual?”
Nkechimere Ibe asked if ABGRASOD would not whet their appetite and abandon the kids in the middle. She said seeing a good idea through has been the problem in the state and nation. She particularly wanted to know where the scheme would lead the children to.
Another woman, Victoria Ukandu, wondered if the scheme would not be hijacked by politicians, saying she was once in politics but had to quit because of use and dump. Other parents raised issues and offered counsel on camping conditions, safety of the children in camp, need for the organizers to be parents to the children and need to invite more talents. They warned against using quota or VIP lists to select athletes.
All the parents and experts who later spoke praised the idea that would mop up youths at early stages and groom them to stardom, saying that was what the ordinary man expected over the years from those that govern.
Throwing some light, Ignatius Chukwu (General Manager, South East and South-South, BusinessDay), who represented the print media partners, said governments that had a strong platform to harvest ideas and put them to use have soared far above others. He said the very ideas an organisation or a people need to come out of their troubles are imbedded right there in the heads of the same people. All it required is to find a formula to tap the ideas, process them and put them to use. He said that whatever makes a child not to be academically brilliant could make the child a genius in another area of life, just requiring discovery.
A former director of sports, Ejikeme Ikwunze, known as ‘Mr. Football’ stirred the large crowd, saying sports is the future of the world. He insisted on strict camp rules, discipline, good coaching and medical attention when camping teenagers.
The Abia State Director of Sports promised that talents discovered would be included in national sports competitions even this year.
The coach of Abia Comets promised to open a window for the ABGRASOD talents and started with donation of 10 balls. The hall exploded in thrills.
The Director of Sports Development in the Ministry of Sports,Sunday Ogele, who represented the Sports Commissioner, said the Ministry was happy with the scheme especially for keeping with the calendar of events despite difficulties.
He said; “It is not easy to traverse the 17 local council areas of the state to hunt for talents, but they did it. This programme will not fail. Government is solidly behind it. Nobody will hijack it. We know that new ideas are not easy to drive”. He warned that there would be no demand of money from parents to sponsor the children.
In his keynote address, the director of ABGRASOD, Kalu Prince-Iroha, gave the objectives of the scheme as to diversify Nigeria’s Economy through sports; to encourage private sectors participation in sports development in Abia State; facilitate increased revenue generation through the Ministry of Sports; make Abia the hub of sporting activities in Nigeria; discover and nurture hidden talents in Abia State; and as well develop known talents; enhance good participation in future national, continental and global competitions; and to bring out the business perspectives of sports development in Abia State.
Others include to create employment opportunities through sports; enhance good sporting activities in Nigeria through adequate partnership with relevant Ministries, Agencies, Parastatals and other bodies; develop sports ethics and high moral standard among sportsmen; develop strategies to establish financing for sportsmen from low-income homes; enhance creativity and nurture innovative thinking through the use of information and communication technology (ICT) among sportsmen to meet 21st century challenges; create conductive sporting environment through the provision of adequate and qualitative infrastructural and instructional materials; enhance the abilities and capabilities of sports managers and administrators by exposing them to modern techniques and methodologies; and to bring the people closer to their government through truly people-oriented projects such as this.
The selected talents were given their admission letters to the camp that would open soon. It was gathered that foreign scouts have started making inquiries, a sign that Nigeria is ripe for mega sports academy to groom the youths for foreign sporting missions.
1. ‘Mr Football, Ejikeme Ikwunze, former director of sports, Abia
2. Cross section of the Abia talents and their parents
3. Sunday Ogele, Director of Sports Development, representing the Commissioner of Sports
