Lord’s Taverners boosts grassroots sports development in the Niger Delta area 

By Akeem Busari
A United Kingdom based sports recycling charity, Lord’s Taverners, recently delivered 712kg of sports kits/equipment to CSED (Community Sports and Educational Development) Initiative. 
This was done by the management of Lord’s Taverners, as part of their efforts to empower children and youths in taking part in grassroots sports activities. Since 2019, this is the third consignment of sport kits/equipment that Lord’s Taverners has delivered to CSED Initiative. 
The latest kits/equipment delivery brings Lord’s Taverners total donation to CSED Initiative to about 1500kg. It would be recalled that CSED Initiative has in the past successfully distributed the donated kits/equipment to some of the projects; Secondary Dchools and Universities that they currently work in partnership with among whom are Edo State Cricket Association, ABU Zaria cricket team, IDP Camp Uhogua, netball activities in Taraba, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Lagos and Akwa Ibom states. 
A Trustee of CSED Initiative, stated that the recently donated kits/equipment by Lord’s Taverners, will be freely donated to projects that support vulnerable and hard to reach children and youths at IDPs Camp Uhogua, as well as, a new project that will support asylum seekers/refugees in the Ogoja area.
The Ogoja ‘Sports for Refugees project’, will start in 2024. The Trustee stated that CSED Initiative has recently reached an agreement with UNHCR field office in Ogoja to support asylum seekers/refugees and members of their host community in Ogoja, by delivering sports for change training programmes for teachers and students in the three separate refugees camps.
“Apart from supporting the training of teachers in football, we will provide the children and youths with some of the free kits/equipment that we received from Lord’s Taverners.
“Also, access to training in sports like badminton, cricket, netball, table tennis, chess, scrabble and taekwondo will be gradually introduced to Physical Education teachers and selected students at the refugees camps and in the Ogoja community.”
“The goal is to use sports and access to quality training to promote peace and unity between the refugees and members of the Ogoja community,” he concluded.