*Urges FG, S/East Govs to allocate much money to sport in their annual budget
By Toby Chuks
Igbo Youth group under the aegis of Youth Rendezvous For Greater Igbo Advancement have decried what they termed as neglect of Rojenny Games Village Oba by various levels of government and institutions most particularly the Federal Government of Nigeria wondering why such a place with modern sport facilities should be abandoned while sport talents in football, track and field, tennis, basketball, boxing, wrestling and others are wasting away.
Speaking on the poor State of the facilities at the Games Village during their excursion to the Village the Coordinator of the group Comrade Onyeka Nwachukwu lamented that modern facilities at Rojenny like Olympic stadium with tartan track, swimming pool, lawn tennis court, basketball court and boxing ring including recreational facilities like Amusement park and a zoo were abandoned to dilapidate at a point when they are needed most.
Comrade Nwachukwu observed that the Games Village has all type of facilities needed to develop sport in Anambra State, in the Southeast geopolitical zone and Nigeria at large adding that the facilities in the Games Village are enough to discover, groom and position the Youth to face both local and international sport competitions in various sporting activities including Olympic Games.
He continued “without mincing words, I want to admit that there are faculties good enough to discover talents in football, discover swimmers, athletes for track and field, discover tennis players, boxers, wrestlers, basketball players, long jumpers, high jumpers and many others, so one has to wonder why government and institutions abandoned this place which can be used to develop talents and create jobs for the Youth”
Identifying sports as the most available tool to create jobs for the Youth and even advance the economy to greater height, the Coordinator called on the Federal Government and Southeast Governors in particular to allocate much money to sport development in the annual budget and ensure that sport development activities receive much attention both in the schools and cities across the Southeast zone.
He went further “If you look at the world of sport, you will discover that Nigerians cities are lagging behind other cities in Africa in sport development. There are much higher development in sport in other African cities like Cairo, Alexandera, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Soweto, Casablanca, Rabbat, Algers, Anaba, Tunis, Addis Ababa, Kinshasa,Accra, Kumasi, Younde, Douala among others”
