Sanwo-Olu lauds FG colleges on sports, pledges Lagos support

Lagos State governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu has commended the Federal Government colleges for sustaining the sports competitions among their students, saying the effort is in the right direction.

He gave the commendation on Monday at the opening ceremony of the 16th FEDCOL Games, hosted by the Southwest zone of the unity colleges, in Lagos.

More than 85 unity colleges from across the country have their students competing in various sporting activities that include athletics, long and high jump, shot put, javelin, chess and scrabble, among others.

Governor Sanwo-Olu, who was the special guest of honour at the event but represented by the Chairman, of Lagos State Sports Commission, Mr Sola Aiyepeku, said the sporting competition would not only boost physical fitness and mental alertness but would equally promote discipline, networking and unity among participants, who are from different ethnic and religious backgrounds.

He said Lagos State would continue to support in any possible way the organisers of the sporting event.

In his own remark, the chairman of the event, Mr Jani Ibrahim, who is an industrialist, called on the Federal Government to make sports a major integral part of the unity schools’ curriculum.

He said doing so would make students exposed to a good and balanced education. According to him, sports remained a major underpinning factor that united the country and its people, especially in the face of its numerous contending challenges.

“So, getting sports promoted especially among secondary school students just as the one by the unity colleges can be one sure way of fostering needed unity and love in the country,” he stressed.

He said the government should therefore create adequate time for sports competitions among schools, as such would further cement national unity and the discovery of talents that can be nurtured to become careers for some in future.

He, however, commended the Federal Government for supporting the games to hold as planned, irrespective of the security challenge in the country, while also lauding the parents of participating students for releasing their children to travel from various parts of the country to be part of the one-week long event in Lagos.

In her own address, the Principal, of Federal Government College Ijanikin, Lagos, who is also the chairman of all zonal chairmen of federal college principals, Mrs Tofunmi Akamo, said the essence of the game is to further sustain the vision and mission of the founding fathers of unity colleges which centred on unity.

She said the event is being organised every two years on a rotational basis among the six geo-political zones, recalling that the last edition was held in Portharcourt.

ALSO READ FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE 

• Are There Legal Implication Of Currency Change On Average Nigerian?

• Abdulrazaq In Battle Against Saraki, PDP

• The Takeoff By Adeleke

• Myths About Mobile Phone Batteries

• 6 Things To Avoid On A First Date

• EDITORIAL: The Enugu Herdsmen’s Attack