By Kehinde Akinlade
2024 is months away,, our dear Ogun State will be hosting the rest of the nation as the sporting stage of the National Sports Festival comes to the Gateway State.
Youths of Ogun State that are skillful in the different kinds of teams and individual sporting events that medals will be competed for during the sporting fiesta will compete for honours with their counterparts from across the nation. The big questions prompting this agenda epistle is ‘how many youths of Ogun West will make the team of Ogun State for the festival?’
Indeed Nigeria is blessed with sporting talents that have carved niche for themselves on the big stage. In producing many of this talents Ogun State can be described as ‘Ife’, the source of many sporting greats that have donned the green white of the nation round the world winning medals breaking records especially in individual sports. To mention but few are Tobi Amusan, Funke Oshonaike, Falilat Ogunkoya, Monday Morountoun, Segun Toriola, Hakeem the Dream Olajuwon, Bose Kafo
Of all the sports stars that have emerged from Ogun State and have won medals for the state in youths sports and at professional levels, hardly do we have any that sharpened his or her skill in Ogun West the homeland of the present Commissioner of Sports. If any, he or she did not get his or her skill sharpened at any government owned sporting facilities. Why, because the facilities are not there.
Majority of the sporting talents that have emerged from Ogun State made it out of sporting centres in Ogun Central and Ogun East. There, kids have access to both government employed coaches and sporting facilities. In Abeokuta, Central, there is a well equipped sports centre in Ijeja for both indoor and outdoor sports. There is a Stadium also in Kuto where kids can train for sports. In Ogun East there is Ijebu Ode stadium that once hosted junior world cup matches. Sagamu also has a stadium where youths have access to sporting facilities. These are reasons that more and more of youths from the mentioned axis of the state make it into the lucrative world of sports making money, getting foreign scholarship, becoming employers of labour and been able to give back to their societies. Medal winners for Ogun State at the National Sports Festival in the past got cash rewards and even government employment.
There is no doubt that the youths of Ogun West have suffered marginalization in the area of sports development. They have never been able to tap into the very lucrative world of sports because the facilities are not there. Particularly facilities for individual sports. Redress was to happen sometimes in the 80s when Tunde Ibikunle was made Commissioner for Sports in Ogun by a military administration at the time. That was the year attempt to build a stadium was made in Ilaro and coaches were deployed to schools to get kids interested in sports. This writer registered for badminton that time but the dream of becoming a badminton star by this writer and that of other youths of my generation growing up in Ilaro then died when Tunde Ibikunle died suddenly in office and the stadium project was abandoned. The coaches also left. Of course the government of Otunba Gbenga Daniel resurrected the stadium project at the same location but the project was not completed beyond the football field . No equipment for other sports.
The agenda for the new Commissioner for Sports in Ogun State, Alhaji Wasiu Isiaka as it relates to Ogun West is a straight one, there must be an end to the marginalization of Ogun West youths male and female in the area of sports development. The opportunities in the sporting world in the state, the nation and the world that youths of other senatorial districts have been enjoying must spread now to the youths of Ogun West. So good the new Commissioner is a son of Ogun West and very knowledgeable about the land and its myriad of problems.
Beyond plunging into sports as occupation by the youths, Ogun West has a peculiar problem that requires every attention it can get and also requires all shapes and sizes of solutions that can be mustered up. Sporting activities is one of such solution and the problem is smuggling that has been leading to the deaths of many of Ogun West youths from the gun muzzles of Nigeria Customs men. Sports is one veritable tool that can help against this life taking problem and other vices like drug abuse that is growing at an alarming rate.
Honourable Commissioner sir, please use your good office to help the youths of Ogun West off the streets into the lucrative world of sports. The return on such social investment will be great on our land. Of course it is almost impossible to groom anyone right there in Ogun West for the 2024 games but you can lay the foundation for the future.
Yewa News Extra 