Sports
UN Places Eagles As Ambassadors At World Cup
The United Nations (UN)
has picked the Super Eagles as its goodwill ambassadors for the 2014 FIFA World Cup scheduled to take place in Brazil between June 12 and July 13.
Djibril Diallo, Special Advisor to Executive Director, United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS), disclosed this at a news conference in Abuja to announce the lunch of its “Protect the Goal Initiative’’.
The “Protect the Goal Initiative’’ seeks to harness the power of sports around the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
It also seeks to promote an AIDS free generation which is expected to be achieved through zero infection, zero discrimination and zero AIDS related death.
Diallo said the Eagles were chosen as the UN ambassadors because of their pedigree in football as well as the political and economic role Nigeria was playing in Africa.
“We as United Nations want to focus on using HIV and AIDS as entry point to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the post 2015 agenda.
“So, we are focusing heavily on using sports as a means to accelerate the MDGs in the developing countries, while having the solidarity and partnership of the industrialised nations,’’ he said.
Diallo also said that the initiative targeted the 32 qualified teams for the 2014 World Cup, adding that Nigeria was the focal point.
“The campaign kicked off on March 5 in South Africa during the friendly game between Brazil and South Africa; we had the signature of President Jacob Zuma on the ball.
“The campaign will go to the five African nations that have qualified for the World Cup.
“After Nigeria, we are going to Cote d’Ivoire where the President and the football team will do the same exercise and from there to Algeria.
“We will also go to Ghana and do the same thing with the Head of State and the national football team,’’ Diallo explained.
He said that the campaign would transverse Mexico and Chile between May 25 and June 5 before leaving for Brazil on June 7 for the World Launch on June 9.
“President Goodluck Jonathan as the special guest will hand over the ball to the president of Brazil on that day,’’ he said.
Prof. John Idoko, who also spoke on the reason behind the UN’s choice of Nigeria, explained that Nigeria was one of the countries with high prevalence rate of HIV and AIDS infection.
According to him, 14 countries in the world are responsible for the 60 per cent of the burden of HIV and out of these 14, 10 are in Africa.
“So, if you are going and really want to protect the goal, you must go to Africa and Nigeria is the place to be,’’ Idoko said.
According to Idoko, the idea is to continue to create awareness on HIV and AIDS using football which arguably attracts the largest followership in sports in Nigeria.
The event is organised in collaboration with United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA).
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.
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