Sports
ABS, La Planet Sign Pact To Exchange Players
Abubakar Bukola Saraki (ABS) Ilorin FC and La Planet Sport Academia State, a sport academy based in Kwara, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on exchange of players for developmental purposes.
The signing of the MoU which took place in Ilorin yesterday, attracted sports stakeholders across the state and some business moguls.
In the agreement, La Planet Sport Academia shall be sending players for developmental purposes to ABS Ilorin FC, while it will in return give technical support to its coaches and players.
Also, in the agreement, the ABS Ilorin FC will build a football business relationship with the academy.
Speaking at the ceremony, the Kwara Director of Sports, Tunde Kazeem, said the sports council would continue to give support to persons or groups showing interest in development of athletes, especially at the grassroots.
He described the signing of the MoU as one of the best event in the history of sports in the state and thanked both parties for the initiative.
Speaking after signing of the MoU, ABS Director of Football, Alloy Chukwuemeka, said the club would continue to run professionally and in line with the details and visions of its proprietor, Dr Bukola Saraki.
Chukwuemeka explained that Saraki had directed that the club be run professionally in such a way that other clubs will emulate.
He said that since he joined the team about 10 years ago, he has not relented on that mandate and assured that ABS will continue to develop local players to stardom.
The ABS Director of Football believed that the game is about exceptional talents, hence, the reason for the agreement with La Planet Sport Academia which is responsible for the scouting of players across the nooks and crannies of the state.
He boasted that almost every Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) clubs have at least one ABS player.
In his remarks, the President of La Planet Sport Academia, Shogo Shodunnke, described Chukuemeka as an honest man running ABS in a transparent manner.
He said that it is these traits that informed his decision to partner with ABS, adding that so far, no fewer than 48 players who had participated in the end of the season Pre-season tournament tagged AMAPRO, had turned professional footballers.
Shodunnke said in the shortest period that AMAPRO began a few years ago, he has scouted over 200 players.
The La Planet Sport Academia President, described Kwara as his home, and pledged to give his best to see that the world best football players come from there.
In their separate goodwill messages, Mr Jide Alabi, a banker, said that it was a good development, seeing someone looking at football from the business angle of it.
He said it is high time that Nigeria see sports as an industry, especially football because it is capable of boosting the economy if the right things are done.
Also, Olaide Ahmed, the President of Excel All Stars, an amateur football club in Ilorin, appreciated Shodunke’s love for football at the grassroots.
He commended the management of ABS, for giving young players in the state opportunities to become professionals and earn a living through football.
Ahmed explained that ABS remained the only club in Kwara discovering and promoting players and appealed to the management of Kwara United to emulate the Saraki Boys.
Hon Dike who spoke with sports journalists shortly after the flag off the 2024 edition of Chairman’s Football Unity Tournament at Botem Tai in Tai LGA, said the tournament is an annual event to promote peace and unity in Tai as well identify budding talents in the area for global competition.
The opening ceremony of the tournament was more like a carnival was witnessed by huge crowd including prominent indigenes of Ogoni Kingdom, sports lovers and people from all works of life.
The LGA boss revealed that special sports committee will be setup in the area to work out modalities to strengthen sports development in Tai.
He advised the participants in the tournament from various wards in the LGA to play the game by the rules and conduct themselves in a peaceful and orderly manner and use the opportunity to showcase their talents.
Hon Dike further disclosed that his administration will also give priority attention to skills development among the youth to enhance their human capacity and promote enterprise development in the area.
Earlier in his address the Chairman of Tai LGA Football Council, Elder Wisdom Gorgor said the annual football competition has been a unifying factor in Tai LGA that need to be sustained to forge more unity and development in the area.
He urged the participants to see the competition as an opportunity to embrace football as a full career and earn sustainable livelihood.
Elder Gorgor who commended the Chairman of Tai LGA, Hon Dike for his visionary leadership and tremendous development achievements recorded in the LGA under his administration, appealled to the Chairman to build a Mini Sports Stadium in the area to promote sporting activities.
The training was held at the Sani Abacha Stadium Indoor Basketball Court in Kano last Saturday.
According to the Vice President and Head of NBA Nigeria, Gbemisola Abudu, the event was part of the league’s commitment to growing broader basketball ecosystem in Nigeria and making the game more accessible across the country.
“Our first Jr. NBA clinic in Kano speaks to our commitment to growing the game in Nigeria and creating more opportunities for boys and girls to learn and play the game,” Abudu said.
“Nigeria has a rich basketball history and abundance of talent, which is evident every time you watch an NBA game. We look forward to continuing to engage with basketball stakeholders, business leaders and members of the community to further the game’s reach and impact on young people around the country,” she added.
The 2024 basketball initiative clinics of NBA Nigeria also included the league’s inaugural Jr. NBA elite camp for 150 boys and age-16 girls held at the American International School in Lagos in July.
Others include the NBA’s building of 1,000 courts in Africa over the next decade, Nigeria’s Festival Coins and Salubata named the top two winning businesses at NBA Africa Triple-Double Accelerator’s inaugural Demo Day in New York City held last September, and the third edition of “NBA Meets Art,” a curated installation celebrating basketball through the lens of Nigerian art and culture as part of West Africa’s premier art fair Art X Lagos, held in November.
Central to this vision is the federation’s investment in capacity building, evident in the just-concluded one-week Level 1 Badminton World Federation (BWF) Coaching Course, which marked a significant milestone for Nigerian badminton.
Held in Abuja, the course brought together 13 young coaches from across Nigeria. The last time such a course was held in the country was in 2017, making this a historic and transformative step.
The training was facilitated by the Badminton Confederation of Africa (BCA) in partnership with the Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN) and conducted by Dr. Ahmed Radah, the BCA Development Manager.
Radah, impressed by the talent he witnessed, praised Nigeria’s potential.
“Nigeria is blessed with immense talent and a strong badminton tradition. I believe this country has what it takes to dominate on the global stage,” he remarked.