In the past one or two weeks, local government chairmen have been celebrating their one year in office, highlighting their achievements.
Going through their list of what they achieved in the last one year, something which surprised me was that none of them mentioned sports as part of what they did, prompting me to ask whether it is part of their responsibilities to embark on sports as part of their agenda.
At the state level, part of the agenda of the government which the state has been doing is to use sports to achieve that which it is set upon to do.
I have been made to understand that local governments in Nigeria have a range of responsibilities like providing primary education, health care, and maintaining infrastructure like roads and markets.
I have also been told that they help in providing local economic development, public health and environmental management. From information gathered, they handle registration of births, deaths, marriages and control certain aspects of local businesses.
One can therefore conclude that from the achievement reeled out by various chairmen, they have covered areas like education, Healthcare, infrastructure, markets and motor parks. They are also into refuse disposal, naming of roads and numbering of houses. In my own local government, owner of houses are made to pay N10,000 for this exercise.
The local government to the best of my understanding are also into licensing, regulation of businesses, collection of rates especially tenement rates. Their achievements also covered community development, public enlightenment and maintenance of law and order.
However be that as it may, one find it funny that not even one local government can boast of anything as far as sports is concerned. This lack of interest is not only limited to the state but the country as a whole.
The importance of sports in bringing development to the youths cannot be over emphasized albeit to tell you that in developed countries, local or regional governments have used sports to create an enabling environment for governance.
They have used sports to drive their various programme to the populace by way of reducing crime and promoting human and capital development.
Thus, it is unfortunate that none of them seems to know the impact of sports development both economically and human wise.
The local Government is well placed to mobilize and organize Grassroots sports. They are closer to the people more than the state government and the earlier the better they key into sports to help promote unity and also help develop the talents that are abound in the nooks and crannies of the state.
The Grassroots is supposed to be a training ground for the teeming youths who may not be able to get the necessary exposure from the urban world.
A critical look at this issue tells us that the major problem is the inability of the leaders in various councils to see anything good in sports.
For the avoidance of doubt, sports can help unify the people more than any other thing. It helps to create jobs and put good on the table for families. A boy who won 100m race at the ongoing U18/20 Confederation of African Athletics Championship got 300 dollars from a Good Samaritan on the spot and that is just the beginning of the good things for him. The boy may find his way to the United States in the next few months from information reaching us.
With Sports, there is this tendency to reduce crime because the devil finds work for an idle man. With Sports, many of the youths will be engaged and take their minds out of criminality.
Local government administrators must not be selfish but must embrace sports as part of their agenda to help the state government in promoting the MORE Agenda.
Some of the local government are lucky to have mini stadia in their domain. There is one in KOKO, Agbor, Oghara, Ughelli and Otu Jeremi. Others are; Oleh, Kwale, and Sapele.
The Chairmen in these places should not turn blind eye on these stadia but should make use of the facilities.
The local government can empower the youths through sports through participation and those who excelled should be encouraged through scholarship and sponsorship.
The local government can also train Coaches, caroprbactors (those who massages athletes) as they are very rear to come by. We don’t have many of them in Nigeria. It is a high grade profession in sports. It is a question of bringing experts to train them and they are made. Through Sports, local government can play the role of talent discovering and nurture them to limelight. The list is endless.
