FG, Private Sector Urged to Support Sports Devt
Hammed Shittu in Ilorin
The Federal Government and private sector have been called upon to support sports development in the country in order to encourage more participation of talented men and women in sporting activities.
The Leader of the Golf & Tour Kitty Group, Air Vice Marshall (AVM) Harry Arariode (retired) made the call in Ilorin during the just concluded 6th edition of the tournament held at the Ilorin Golf Club, Ilorin.
Speaking with reporters at the closing ceremony of the tournament, the leader of the Golf & Tour Kitty tournament, AVM Arariode(rtd) stressed the importance of sports in the socio-economic development of the nation.
“I want to call on the federal government and private individuals to come to the aid of sports in Nigeria.
“The development would go a long way of enabling talented sports men and women to showcase their talents and thereby allowing them to contribute to the sports development of the country.
“In most of the advanced countries, we have golf tournament and they don’t rely on government or private individuals to flourish. I want to call on the federal government and private individuals to rise up to help the development of golf and other sports so as to advance the socio-economic development of Nigeria”.
On the tournament, Arariode said that, ” We are golf tour group, our essence is to live together and we do this by going on tour of all parts of Nigeria and outside world.
“By going on tour, we do visit the less privileged people in the society and add values to their lives. And yesterday in Ilorin here, we visited two of the Orphanage homes here so as to identify with them.
“We are an amateur golf group, we play for the fun of it. We don’t play for money, we play for trophies because we are amateur”.
The State’s Governor, Alhaji AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, last Thursday declared the tournament open where no fewer than 67 retired personnel and civilians participated at the event.
The tournament was co-hosted by the Chairman of Noktel Hotels, Ilorin, Dr. Edward Wale Akingbade and the former Corps Marshall of the Federal Roads Safety Corps(FRSC) Dr. Boboye Oyeyemi.
