Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki has charged the State Sports Commission Board to groom 10000 athletes in different fields of sports in the next five years.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the governor gave the charge while inaugurating the Yusuf Alli-led Sports Commission on Saturday in Benin.
He admonished the commission to pursue policies that would ensure the dominance of the state in the entire country in terms of the development and training of athletes.
“Edo is synonymous with sports, we owe what we met on the ground to the next generation. We have to catch them young, we have to rethink sports with all the resources we have. “We have to catch them in schools and those outside schools. Success to me will be when we have more than 10,000 Edo sportspeople.
“They should be young men and women, who are so good in sports and who can find opportunities locally, nationally and globally.
“People need to prepare for the global market, why can’t we start now? We just have to catch them young whether it is in swimming, tennis, basketball, table tennis, handball or football.
“We should be able to say in five years time we have trained between 10, 000 to 20, 000 and if 1,000 of those become global stars, see what that would do for us,” he stated.
Obaseki also urged the commission to tap into funding from the private sector to develop infrastructure and drive sporting activities.
