Signing of MOU ahead of the schools sports festival in Abuja. Photos- Ndubueze Chidoka/Radio Nigeria
The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has restated its commitment to continue to identify and nurture sporting talents that are bound in schools within the nation’s capital city and its environs.
FCTA Permanent Secretary, Mr Olusade Adesola, made the pledge when he signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ratel Sports Development Funds (RSDF) to co-host the FCT School Sports Festival.
He described the signing of the MoU as a watershed, saying it will mark the beginning of a fulfilling promise for FCT as a center of unity. “FCT is the center of unity, a city of government and the capital of the nation.” Adesola said.
‘It is in FCT that you see the presence of all the nationalities and working hard to prove their mettle, it means that we have all the talents here in FCT. You are here to support us to bring up these talents that are present in our schools, and all the nooks and crannies of the FCT.
“Your role is to support our efforts to identify and nurture the talents. The signing of this MoU is therefore an invitation to support the Education Secretariat to double the performance of our school students in sports,” Olusola said.
Earlier, President of RSDF, Paul Edeh, said Ratels Sport Development Foundation as a registered non-governmental and Non profit organisation is committed to promoting sports as a panacea for youth development in Nigeria and Africa at large through sports education.
According to him, the best place to catch and groom young stars early through regular sports activities is the school system. “RSDF as a result-oriented sports development organization dedicated to solving sports issues through innovative programmes by forming connections between people, resources and ideas believes that this collaboration would build the enthusiasm of students to be inclined towards sports and help them perform better academically,” RSDF boss said.
Speaking on the signing of the MoU, Mandate secretary do education, Sani Dahir El-katuzu, said the partnership will bridge the sporting gap among students, and the society and the world at large.
He said sports has an important role in achieving health targets of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, particularly the goal of increasing physical activity by 15% over the next decade and the MoU is to impact student’s education and health, promote tolerance and discipline.
Reporting by Ndubueze Chidoka, editing by Daniel Adejo