Cricket Launches Accelerated Growth Programme in Abuja

The Caretaker Committee of the Nigeria Cricket Federation has launched Accelerated Growth Programme (AGP) to spread the game to targeted 250, 000 youths in a grassroots development plan.

Chairman of the Caretaker Committee, Professor Yahaya Ukwenya who was also the President of the immediate past board of the federation said at the launch on Children’s Day in Abuja that the event was a continuation of the inituative started by the last board.

“We had an outlined growth plan that we stuck to. Facility was one of the core of our attention while the four-year tenure lasted, and we were at the tail end of it before the board was dissolved. This programme is actually a continuation of the plan,” Ukwenya stressed.

He said the outcome of the focused plan meant that the country now have three cities with two world-class Cricket pitches each. The cities are Lagos, Abuja and Benin.

According to him, “This phase of development, is meant to complement the facilities that are now in place”

Ukwneya said standard playing surface and access to cricket equipment had been the albatross of the game’s growth and that the launch of the Accelerated Growth Programme is meant to bring everything together.

“We have employed 37 field officers across the states of the federation and 2, 000 starter’s kids for the officers to run the game,” he added.

Over 100 kids were involved in the exhibition game at the launch of the programme on Children’s Day in Abuja yesterday.

Secretary General of the federation, Taiwo Oriss, said that the Nigeria Cricket Federation remains perhaps, the biggest employers of development officers, which speaks on the huge investments it has made in that regard.

“This project ties all our growth agenda together and we have a well structured team to drive this and deliver cricket as a tool for youth engagement and empowerment throughout the country,” Oriss concluded.