The Principal of Igbobi College Lagos, Venerable Joseph Oyewale Adediji, has called for an urgent rethink of how young athletes are rewarded in school sports, arguing that monetary prizes for children at U-10 and U-15 competitions could be undermining the long-term development of Nigerian sports.
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Adediji believes the focus should shift from handing cash to underage athletes after competitions to creating a structured system that invests in their education, training and long-term sporting careers.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with SPORTS247, the Igbobi College principal said the continued decline of Nigeria’s traditional school sports pathway is closely linked to the absence of proper structures for identifying, educating and developing young talents.
According to him, winning a school competition at a young age should not simply end with a child receiving a monetary reward and returning home.
Rather, outstanding performers should be identified and placed on scholarships that can secure their education while providing them with the necessary sporting development.
“I believe that when U-10 and U-15 players win different competitions, the focus should not necessarily be on monetary rewards. Instead, outstanding players should be offered scholarships to higher institutions where they can continue their education while being properly developed in their respective sports.”
Adediji’s position raises a fundamental question about the purpose of youth competitions in Nigeria: Are we rewarding children for winning today, or investing in athletes who could represent the country tomorrow?
For the Igbobi College principal, the answer should be the latter.
He argued that the increasing number of football academies across the country is partly a reflection of the failure of the traditional school sports system to provide a clear pathway for talented youngsters.
In previous generations, school competitions served as important talent-identification platforms, with exceptional players able to progress from school football into Nigeria’s age-grade national teams.
That pathway, he believes, must be rebuilt.
Instead of spending scarce resources on immediate cash rewards for children, organisers and sponsors could channel the same investment into scholarships, quality coaching, sporting equipment, medical support, competitions and long-term athlete development.
Such an approach, Adediji believes, would ensure that a talented child does not have to choose between an education and a sporting career.
It would also give schools a greater role in producing Nigeria’s next generation of footballers and other elite athletes.
The proposal comes at a time when football academies have become increasingly prominent in the development of young Nigerian players, while the traditional school sports system has struggled to maintain its former influence.
Adediji insists that the solution is not to abandon school sports, but to rebuild the structure around them.
Under a properly organised scholarship programme, an outstanding U-10 or U-15 athlete could receive an opportunity that goes far beyond the excitement of winning a trophy or collecting cash.
The child could receive an education, sustained sporting development and a pathway towards university and elite competition.
For Adediji, that is the kind of reward that can change a young athlete’s life and ultimately strengthen Nigerian sports.
His message is therefore clear: stop treating children’s sporting success as an opportunity for short-term cash distribution and start treating it as an investment in the future of Nigerian sports.
If Nigeria wants to rediscover the school system as a reliable factory for sporting talent, he believes the country must stop asking what prize a young athlete should receive today and start asking what support will help that athlete become a champion tomorrow.
