The grand finale of the North-East Development Commission (NEDC)’s all Secondary Schools Sports Competition has commenced at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Memorial Stadium (TBMS) in Bauchi with all the six states of the region participating.
The participating schools are competing in the finals of baseball, tennis, table tennis, athletics and football.
Declaring the weeklong event open on Tuesday, the managing director of the North East Development Commission, Alh. Mohammed Goni Alkali, said the competition was organised to promote peaceful co-existence and discovery sporting talents among youths.
Alkali who was represented by head of scholarships, training and capacity building, Barrister Khalifa M. Lawan, said the purpose of the programme is to organise competitions where talents can be discovered and nurtured in conjunction with established institutions, provide youths with local and international opportunities to engage in professional sporting careers for enhanced income.
He said these can be achieved through the two-pronged approach: Organizing sporting competitions across the region and identification of talents through systematic documentation of recorded accomplishments; developing the capacity of games masters in schools and enrolment of competent youth in sports academies for further development.
The managing director assured that the commission is geared to address the poor human development indices, high illiteracy rate and high poverty levels in the North-east region.
“One of the fund’s mandates is the promotion of sports for youth development. Sports have been proven to be an effective tool for bringing communities together and fostering social cohesion and peace-building,” he said
He observed that given the situation in the sub-region, where there are many challenges of mistrust and suspicion, sports can be leveraged in bridge fractured relationships across social, cultural and religious divides within the communities and inculcating a sense of shared identity and fellowship amongst youths in the region.
Bauchi state commissioner of sports, Mohammed Salis Gamawa, commended the NEDC for organizing the event and appealed to the commission to facilitate the realization of a zonal sports academy in Bauchi, which the state government has for some time now been yearning.
