As the curtain falls on the seventh National Youth Games
By Prof Emmanuel Ojeme
The seventh National Youth Games hosted by Delta State at Asaba, finally came to a close on the 30th of September 2023. This event which brought the youths of Nigeria together for a week long fiesta was quite entertaining and also provided a veritable platform to expose the youth to competitive sports at the National level.
This writer was at the games and witnessed the athletic potentials of Nigerians under-15 years of age in different sports as they vied for honours. The purpose of this write-up is to present an overview of the transactions and an assessment of its possibilities for boosting sports development in Nigeria as well as the requirements for the actualization of future prosperity of sports through the instrumentality of the youth games harvests.
The Under-15 National Youth Games programs is a developmental sports competition designed by the Federal Ministry of Sports Development to expose youthful Nigerians still in their formative years, the opportunity to engage in structured sports competitions as a means of identifying trainable talents for the nation. The 7th edition of this programme which took place in Asaba, Delta State was very eventful as it was well attended by youths from the 36 states and FCT. The organization of the games was quite adequate and the competition environment including the games infrastructure was quite commendable. It was observed however, that there were some participants seemingly looking above the age of 15 years. What is encouraging is that the boys and girls competed fiercely and demonstrated excellence of sports skills required in their various sports of interest. The youth were quite inspiring and look ready for further training and development, given the opportunity. Thus, the youth games showed that the youth are ready and available for further development. The question now is:
1. Is Nigeria ready for her youths in sports development? What happens next, after the game?
For sustainable progress to be made in sports development, a key component is the availability of the talented youth population. This component is made available to the sports institutions by harvesting the fruits of the youth games. The sports development institutions must now arm itself with a sports development policy which specifies:
1. The sports development vision and mission statements which in turn become the compass for the youth sports development programme.
2. The strategies and programmes of youth sports which include their education, vocational training as they engage in sports activities.
3. The provision of sports infrastructures and platforms for youth sports development activities.
4. The welfare and incentives for the youth athletes.
5. Youth counseling services and nutrition
Specialize manpower education and training for youth sports development
6. Creation of youth sports development organizational units at all levels of government.
7. Effective Funding strategies for youth sports programmes
8. Sustained structured competitions at the local, states and national levels
9. Benchmarks for monitoring and evaluation of the progression of youths in sports activity
10. Documentation of youth data for profiling and development purposes.
If the sport development institutions demonstrate commitment in the prosecution of this youth sports development policy framework consistently, purposefully and sincerely aim at achieving set goals, it is incontestable that the youth sports programme of Nigeria is a sure recipe for actualizing Nigerian’s destiny of greatness in sports given the endowed potential of its youths in sports activities.
This writer wishes to commend the organizers and hosts of the 7th youth games for the effort and resources invested for providing opportunities for Nigerian youths to showcase their talents. There is indeed great hope and possibility for sports in Nigeria to soar to greater heights with the brightness and shine of the youths in their outputs in the 7th youth games. The youths have shown that they are interested and ready for sports. Let the nation play its parts in helping the youths reach their zenith of greatness in sports for their own good and good of the nation.
Let’s go Nigeria! Are we ready! The future will tell.
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Professor Emmanuel Ojeme, sent this piece. You can reach him via email: successojeme@yahoo.com
