…AS STAKEHOLDERS' FORUM HOLDS IN LAGOS

STAKEHOLDERS' forum is scheduled for this month in Lagos towards repositioning the National School Sports Federation (NSSF) for states and national sports developments in schools.

Disclosing this to The Guardian yesterday, NSSF scribe, Olabisi Joseph, said it became necessary to stage a forum where all stakeholders in the sector would fashion out ways of developing sports from the grassroots.

'We have realised that we need to involve everybody in sports for us to move forward and this has prompted us to call for a forum where a new vista will be ushered into sports,' he said. 'Everybody will make their own contribution during the forum so that NSSF can perform its statutory duties in promoting sports at all levels.

'The event will hold from January 30 to February 1 in Lagos, with representatives from National Olympic Committee (NOC), National Sports Commission (NSC), Federal Ministry of Education and all our major sponsors like Nestle Nigeria Plc and Shell.'

She added: 'New sponsors will also be welcomed to the event because we believe we need corporate bodies to drive any idea. All sports officers of NSSF throughout the country will also be present at the forum. This is one of the major programmes of NSSF this year because we want to start getting it right.

'Also, we need to ensure that our sports wake up from its slumber because in the past, schools used to be the breeding ground for most of our top athletes. But the reverse is the case and as a government recognised body, we need to drive the idea so that anybody will not be left out at the end of the day.'