Lagos State Sports Commission says it is camping 120 Students between the ages of seven and 16 for its summer sports camp with a view to harnessing their talents.
The Director-General of the commission, Oluwatoyin Gafaar, made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in his office at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, as the camping began on Monday.
Gafaar said the 120 students from both primary and secondary schools were drawn from the five divisions of the state which included Epe, Ikeja, Badagry, Ikorodu and Lagos Island, while the camp would last for six days.
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He said the Lagos sports summer camp was created by Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu who had promised to engage many youths in meaningful activities and take them off the streets.
“Our targets are the children from not too rich parents. The camp is to give confidence to the children. They will be made to read books and review them. They will learn sports, education, skills and human development.
“The programme is to unveil the talents in them. That is why we are not involving professionals. These students have never been involved or have an interest in sports before. After this, we start hunting for talents.
“We hope with the support from the governor, the programme will be an annual summer sports camp and more students will be involved,” Gafaar said.
A consultant for the programme, Ikporo Scott, said the children began their activities on Monday after arriving on Saturday.
Scott said that at the end of camp, the children would have known about volleyball, basketball, judo, athletics, table tennis, swimming, taekwondo and squash games.
“At the end of the programme, we expect to discover new talents. We have 60 per cent sports and 40 per cent entrepreneurial events. This is the madden event. The children will learn makeup, tie and dye and others,“ he said.
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