Edo Ex Gov Philip Shaibu Spoke On Proper Maintenance Of Sports Facilities, Suggests Regular Activities For Young Athletes

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Director-general and chief executive officer of the National Institute for Sports (NIS), Comrade Philip Shaibu has emphasised the need for proper maintenance of sports facilities in the country and regular activities for youth athletes as roures towards excellence in the sector.

According tosports247 reports Shaibu was speaking against the backdrop of the country’s recent performances at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland and World U20 Athletics Championship in Eugene, USA, where he believes better results could have been achieved.

While calling for stronger collaboration among Nigeria’s sports institutions, Shaibu warned that the country cannot develop the sector without a clearly stated, well-coordinated and long-term strategy, based on youth development and maintenance of infrastructure.

Shaibu, who recalled the experience he gained as deputy governor of Edo State, also stressed that lessons learnt from participation of the country’s teams and athletes in international competitions should be used for proper planning linked to Nigeria’s specific sporting strengths.

He disclosed further that he has consistently advocated for closer collaboration between the NIS, National Sports Commission (NSC), Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and other associations, then wondered why facilities that were used to host major competitions in the country rot away.

Shaibu submitted, “Building infrastructure is not the main thing. It’s maintaining the infrastructure that is more critical than building it. Where are the facilities that we used in hosting the World Cup across the six geo-political zones?

“Size is not the issue. What is an issue is your plan. We have talent in abundance. How to cultivate this bank of talent is what we now need to put in place. If you build infrastructure and there is no activity, it will crack.”