The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has Tuesday restated their commitment toward identifying and nurturing sporting talents that are bound in schools within the nation capital.
FCTA permanent secretary, Mr Olusade Adesola, made the pledge on Tuesday when he signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ratel Sports Development Funds (RSDF) to co-host the FCT School Sports Festival.
He described the signing of the MoU as a watershed, saying it will mark the beginning of a fulfilling promise for FCT as a center of unity.
“FCT is the center of unity, a city of government and the capital of the nation. It is in FCT that you see the presence of all the nationalities working hard to prove their mettle, it means that we have all the talents here in FCT. You are here to support us to bring up these talents that are present in our schools, and all the nooks and crannies of the FCT.
“Your role is to support our efforts to identify and nurture the talents. The signing of this MoU is therefore an invitation to support the Education Secretariat to double the performance of our school students in sports,” Olusola said.
Earlier, president RSDF, Barrister Paul Edeh, said Ratels Sport Development Foundation as a registered non-governmental and non-profit organisation with the Nigerian Corporate Affairs, has its establishment a few years ago, been committed to promoting sport as a panacea for youth development in Nigeria and Africa at large through sports education and sports for all initiatives, saying the importance of sports development in schools across Nigeria cannot be overemphasized.
According to him, the best place to catch and groom young stars early through regular sports activities is the school system. “RSDF as a result-oriented sports development organization dedicated to solving sports issues through innovative programmes by forming connections between people, resources and ideas believes that this collaboration would build the enthusiasm of students to be inclined towards sports and help them perform better academically,” RSDF boss said.
He also noted that the signing of the MOU will lays out the practical steps towards achieving and sustaining the FCT School Sports programme with measurable, realistic and time bound objectives, saying it will among other benefits provide an avenue for the discovery of young talents, to promote the enthusiasm of students towards education using sports as a panacea and promote unity amongst divergent tribes and cultures in the FCT.
Speaking on the signing of the MoU, mandate secretary for education, Sani Dahir El-katuzu, said the partnership will bridge the sporting gap among students, the society and the world at large.
He said sports has an important role in achieving health targets of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, particularly the goal of increasing physical activity by 15% over the next decade and the MoU is to impact student’s education and health, promote tolerance and discipline.
