Sports
Inadequate Funds Threaten 2013 College Of Education Games
The President of the Nigeria Colleges of Education Games Association (NICEGA), Mohammed Sanusi, has said that lack of funds could affect the standard of the 2013 sports fiesta.
Sanusi told newsmen in Abuja that the Federal Government had stopped allocating funds for the games.
“As I am talking to you, there is no single fund that has been released to us or we have gotten from any source.
“We used to get funding from the federal government but now this year, and last year, nothing was released.
“We are going to try our very best to host this Games come what (may), but I believe the standard that will be expected for the Games is not likely to be there when the funds are not available.“
He said that there was no hope of getting funds from the government because the funds were not appropriated.
“I do not even think that it (money) is coming because it has not been appropriated for.
“It has been removed from last year’s appropriation and even this year’s appropriation, it is not there at all, and that is the snag we have.”
Sanusi decried the lips service paid to sports development in the country especially poor funding of grassroots sports.
“It is very important that these funds are made available for NICEGA and (other) tertiary institution games, because if we are talking of sports development, we are talking of going back to (the) grassroots.
“And we are neglecting collegiate sports, then, it is just paying a lip service to sports development in Nigeria.“
He, however, noted that other preparations were on course for the sports fiesta, billed to hold in Minna, Niger State, just as the zonal preliminaries would soon be completed.
“Most of the zones are through with their zonal preliminaries with the exception of one or two of them.
“Immediately after the zonal preliminaries, we will compile the results and we will call for a congress to determine the date the games are expected to come up at the College of Education, Minna.“
The 2012 edition of the Games held at the Federal College of Education (Technical), Omoku, Rivers State where FCE Kano won with 10 gold and four bronze medals.
England captain Harry Kane netted a hat-trick to guide Bayern Munich to an impressive victory against Stuttgart.
Kane’s goals, plus one from Kingsley Coman, helped Bayern end a three-game winless run in all competitions.
They faced a tough task against a Stuttgart side who sat back and limited their chances, leading Vincent Kompany’s side to enter the break frustrated and with the deadlock unbroken.
Bayern eventually found a way past Stuttgart’s steely defence when Kane drilled a low effort into the bottom corner from around 30 yards out after Joshua Kimmich overturned possession.
Former Nigeria goalkeeper, Dosu Joseph, is full of thanks to God after he miraculously survived another life-threatening automobile accident recent at Kara, along the Lagos-Ibadan Express Way, where a heavy-duty truck ran into his SUV.
Narrating his ordeal, the 51-year-old, who guided Nigeria to gold in the Men’s Football Tournament of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, broke the news in a statement on his social media handles on Friday.
“To God be the glory, another death escaped by Grace and Mercy of God. Me and my friend SM were at Enyo Filling Station after Ojodu Berger bus stop to get fuel on Wednesday, October 2, 2024, around 6 p.m. when this MACK truck fully loaded with iron, with registration number LND 470 XX, left the road and crushed my car beyond repairs. Thank God for life,” he stated.
This is the second time the soft-spoken club proprietor will cheat death by a whisker, having been involved in an accident in 1997 that ended his career at 23 and left his spinal cord in bad shape.
He helped Julius Berger win the Nigeria FA Cup in November 1997 shortly a memorable Olympic outing by keeping a clean sheet in the finals against Katsina United. The following year, he was involved in the auto along Ikorodu Road, Lagos, which not only cut his career short but also left him almost paralysed, ending his spell at Serie A club Reggiana.
The former Nigeria international, who also kept goal for Julius Berger FC, said the case has been reported to Isheri Police Station, Ogun State, where the driver is currently detained and the truck also seized.
According to him, the owner of the truck said he can’t fix the badly damaged SUV until after a year.
Ex – Super Eagles of Nigeria, Okwuchukwu Waobikeze has observed that sports development in Nigeria is going down.
According to him, grassroots sports is very important, without it, the administrators cannot get it right. So everybody should key into grassroots sports development, he said.
Waobikeze said this last Wednesday in an interview with sports journalists shortly after the Port Harcourt All Stars Independence football festival (OCTOBERFEST) at the Port Harcourt club, Rivers State.
He explained that for sports administrators to get it right, grassroots development is key. “They should be organising competition at the grassroots level to fish out the young ones for different sporting activities.
“Grassroots sports is very important so the administrators have to go back to the grassroots.
” Sports Development in Nigeria is going down we need to go back to the basics.
“Look at the just concluded Paris Olympics, Nigeria did not win any medal.
” Our football team did not even qualify for the Olympics. We are going down.
” If they should go back to the grassroots, they will get young ones in the games and talents will be developed.
” I started from school games, to youth games before playing for the national team. Now everybody wants to fly board to play professional football and a lot do not know the basics of the game.
” A lot of people did not know the little things about the game, they just want to play. It is not done so,” Waobikeze stated.
Kiadum Edookor