Nigerian Government Launches National Sports Initiative to Engage Youth and Combat Radicalisation
ABUJA/Nigeria: The Nigerian Senate Committee on Sports Development, in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Youth Development, has unveiled an innovative national programme aimed at engaging the youth and promoting de-radicalisation through sports. Dubbed the Nigerian Youth Economic Engagement and De-Radicalization Programme (NIYEEDEP), the initiative was officially launched at the Senate building in the National Assembly on Wednesday.
Senator Ned Munir Nwoko, Deputy Chairman of the Senate Committee on Sports Development, presided over the event, highlighting the programme’s central objective: the discovery of young Nigerian talent. “The essence of this competition is to try and discover young talents. There are many young talents out there in different parts of the country, but they are never given the opportunity because nobody knows them; nobody has heard of them,” Senator Nwoko stated.
The senator also underscored the committee’s enthusiasm for NIYEEDEP, largely due to partnerships with international stakeholders, particularly German football academies interested in identifying and nurturing promising Nigerian youths for professional development in the sport. “Some of the partners are foreign, specifically German-based. They have football academies and are looking at how they can identify the very best of our young ones to be trained and hopefully become professional footballers,” he remarked.
Connecting the initiative with his vision for the Sports University of Nigeria (SUN), Senator Nwoko emphasised the institution’s commitment to merging sports with academic education. “The whole idea of the university is to give young ones the opportunity of combining sports and education. It is not an academy; it’s a full-fledged university,” he explained.
He added that the university mandates student-athletes to pursue a degree alongside their sports training. “For example, if we discover young talent at 16 years old who want to attend my university to play football, it is not enough for them to simply play football. The university has made it mandatory for them to pursue another degree in conjunction with football,” he said.
Senator Nwoko acknowledged the difficulties many athletes encounter upon retirement, stressing that graduates from the Sports University will have academic qualifications to fall back on. “Most of our sportsmen, when they finish their sports career, don’t have much to do because they lack education. However, with the university partnering with this initiative, we aim to produce young individuals who excel in sports and also possess academic qualifications,” he stated.
The senator expressed optimism that the NIYEEDEP initiative will attract significant interest from various groups and football clubs nationwide, offering young Nigerians a platform to showcase their talents while contributing to national development through sports and education.
In his remarks during the programme’s unveiling, the Minister of Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande, reiterated the inclusivity of the talent search. “This talent hunt is open to everyone with an interest in football; they should come together, be productive, and strive for excellence,” Olawande urged.
With the launch of NIYEEDEP, Nigeria takes a significant step towards harnessing the potential of its youth through sports, aiming to foster a new generation of athletes equipped with both skills and education for a brighter future.
