Osun State Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Yemi Lawal has revealed that talents discovered in the ongoing Osun Sports Festival would form fulcrum of state teams that will further be supported to represent the state at various sporting events.
Lawal stated this on Friday, October 1 in Osogbo while speaking with Sports Writers Association of Nigeria, (SWAN), Osun State Chapter.
The Commissioner, who was present at Ebunoluwa International School, Ofatedo to grace the Senatorial district derby between Ifelodun and Orolu described the event as an avenue to identify budding, talented youth from the grassroot and nurture them to stardom.
“the idea of the competition is for us to discover young people who are probably less privileged to showcase the talents they have and it is the responsibility of government to discover these people, give them adequate support so that the can excel in their chosen fields of career.
“As for football, the idea is to begin to build a feeder team for our state owned football club. As much as we are doing this, we are going to engage them in some other sporting activities, expose them to some international communities where they will be able to showcase their talents.
Speaking on other games which begin on Monday, Lawal stated that “not only to discover talents in football alone, we are equally going to have various other sporting activities and talents discovered there, the first thing Mr. Governor approved for us is to ensure that they become state athletes and by so doing, the state government will be supporting them with stipends every month,” assured Lawal.
Some dignitaries who joined the Commissioner to watch the match are Special Adviser on Youth and Sports, Aremo Gboyega Adelabu, Co-ordinating Director, Ministry of Youth and Sports, Mr. Taiwo Oladunjoye, Director of Sports in the Ministry, Mr. Layi Adesiyan, Director of Sports at the Osun State Broadcasting Corporation, Alhaji Muideen Adeleke, Osun SWAN Chairman, Timothy Agbor among others
