British Council Trains 948 Nigerian Coaches, Referees in 13 Years

Sunday Ehigiator

The British Council has revealed that it has trained no fewer than 948 Nigerians in professional football coaching and refereeing program it instituted 13 years ago through a project tagged ‘Premier Skill’ instituted in partnership with the English Premier League

It made this disclosure at the official ‘Premier Skills Closeout Event’ held recently in Lagos by the council to officially divest the program and hand it over to an independent alumni body to oversee the programme’s implementation in Nigeria.

Speaking at the event, the Acting Country Director of the British Council, Nigeria, Chikedi Onyemerela, said the project had trained over 948 coaches and referees and reached over 22,000 young footballers, including women and children.

In his opening address, Onyemerela said the British Council had partnered  civil society organisations, government ministries, agencies and institutions in Nigeria to deliver high-quality programmes focused on strengthening public institutions, facilitating dialogue and highlighting key issues facing communities across the country.

“During the last 13 years of the project delivery in Lagos and Kano States, we successfully trained over 948 coaches and referees.

“These coaches and referees are now agents of change in their respective communities and are promoting inclusivity and community cohesion through the methodology of Premier Skills.”

Also speaking, the Head, of Cultural Engagement Marketing, Sub-Saharan Africa of the council, Edemekong Uyoh, said the idea behind the initiative was to instil life skills in coach educators and leverage the power of football as a tool for change, child protection and to help young people create different platforms where they can address different issues.

According to her, “The programme has run for 13 years. In 13 years, we have had a chance to reach over 20,000 young people, particularly knowing that we have only been focused on two key states, Lagos and Kano state.

“Beyond that, we have been able to train over 900 coaches across these two states and succeeded in getting about 21 coaches accredited such that they can also train other coaches in Nigeria.”