Director General/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria-Brazil Sports Academy,Paul Bankole has asked companies operating in Ogun State, to earmarked five percent of their annual budgets for Corporate Social Responsibility CRS to fund sports development and promotion in the state
A highly respected member of the Association of Sports Performing Centers (ASPC) at a recent interactive session with members of the state chapter of Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) held at its MKO Abiola International Stadium Secretariat in Kuto, Abeokuta , also tasked the media, particularly the state owned radio and television Stations, to champion the crusade by engaging the State House of Assembly Committee on Youth and Sports to come up with the needed legislation, to encourage Corporate organizations to compliment government effort at developing sports in the state
His words, "Management of OGTV, state owned Radio Stations , House Committee on Youth and Sports Development should employ Business Sports policies, attractive and of immense Benefits to Corporate organizations in the state"
Bankole who is also the Director of Sports of the Redeem Christian Church of God and Research Scholar with the South African Sports Science Institute, Cape Town, stressed that with five of the several industries in the state, setting aside such amount, there would be enough fund for the development and promotion of sports in the state
The former Technical Consultant to former Governor of Lagos State , Babatunde Fashola on Grassroots Sports Development, described sports as most lucrative vocation with huge potentials to grow the Gross Domestic Product GDP of Nigeria and increase per capital income of the country, more than the Crude oil export, if well developed and packaged
Sports according to him, has enormous opportunities, to generate millions of jobs opportunities for youths in the country, if government encouraged private participation in sports which must be seen as serious business just like in Europe, America and even in South Africa, where serious attention are given to setting up of High Performance Centres, to discover and nurture athletes to stardom
The President of Nigeria branch of the International Senior Games Association stressed the need for stakeholders, particularly, technocrats and sportswriters to understand politics of drawing the attention of policy makers on the need to establish sports academies ,provide first class facilities and organize school-based sports to catch them young and nurture them for major competitions such as the Olympics
He urged Corporate organizations, religious organizations and individuals to embrace Adopt A Talent Project initiative identified as an effective funding mechanism, to provide Scholarship for youngsters at the grassroots level
The 2004 West African Academicals MTN Gold Medalist and member of the International Confederation of Futebol de Salao Coaches Association commended Governor Dapo Abiodun's administration for adopting Nigerian Elite Athlete, Tobi Amusan, a Tokyo Olympic bound
Bankole however asked the government to do more by adopting youngsters to further encourage more athletes to do well for the state
He enjoined the governor to look inward for local Stars, and also adopt the likes of Dorcas Adesokan, Africa's Women number one badminton player, Isau Ogunsokan, Africa's Para-table tennis Champion amongst others who are also competing at the Olympic
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