Development of sports at grassroots, our priority -Dudu-Orumen
For the Edo State Sports Commission, a cardinal objective of its mandate is the development of Sports at the grassroots.
The Chairman of the Commission(ESSC), Mr. Godwin Dudu-Orumen, disclosed this on Thursday in Benin City, Edo State during the final of the Headmasters Cup for primary schools in Ikpoba/Okha Local Government Area.
The event had in attendance the Chairman of the local government area, Dr. Eric Osayande, senior officials of the Godwin Obaseki administration, the director and senior officials of the State Universal Education Board(SUBEB), and individuals.
Dudu-Orumen, who took the kick-off of the final match as Special Guest of Honour, said the Sports Commission under his leadership is determined to restore Edo State as the hub of sports in the country. He said that in order to realize this goal, the ESSC will engineer a revolution in sports management and development using a bottom-up approach.
“It makes sense that in building any structure you have to start first by laying the foundation, which provides The support on which everything rests. At the Sports Commission we will focus on building sports at the grassroots. Getting our children in primary and secondary schools interested in sports and sustaining that interest is very high on the agenda of the Commission. As part of the our commitment in this regard, we are in serious discussions with the Ministry of Education in the state to institute a Sports Day in every primary and secondary school in Edo State. This move is informed by the need to get the students acquainted with sports early on in their lives and position for future careers in sports both as athletes and officials and later as administrators,” Dudu-Orumen said.
He said the Commission is finalising arrangements to send coaches in different sports to primary and secondary schools to take the students through the rudiments of the different sports.
Speaking earlier, Dr. Osayande, the Ikpoba/Okha LGA boss thanks Dudu-Orumen for finding time to honour the event. He said the council places priority on sports and had been doing its best to encourage youths in the local government to embrace sports. He added that the commitment of the leadership of the council to sports reflected the superlative performance of its athletes at the just concluded 3rd Edo State Sports Festival where his local government emerged victorious.
