Akpan Umoh, Uyo
Retired Deputy Inspector-General of Police and Proprietor of Tower of Ivory Schools, Udom Ekpoudom, has urged sport and youth ministries in Nigeria to formulate deliberate sports policy that would keep youths engaged to reduce youth restiveness.
Ekpoudom stated this after conducting members of Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN), Akwa Ibom council, on facilities tour of sporting equipment in his school, at Ediene Abak, in Akwa Ibom on Wednesday.
According to him, with such policy, youths would be guided on how to implore their time for gainful engagement, thereby reducing their involvement in criminal activities.
He said that his love for sports development in the schools stemmed from the fact that, it engages students’ minds and intellects, thereby diverting their attention from social vices.
Ekpoudom said his passion for sports cannot be compromised, hence his determination and commitment to providing sports facilities, knowing that, the sector is so lucrative this time around.
According to him, one of the driving forces making him build sports infrastructure was to sharpen the intellectual capacities of his students and pupils.
“I love my state and will always indulge in anything that will promote the development of my state. I ventured into schools because I intend to support the growth of education in my state.
“Today, we are building sports infrastructure as a deliberate attempt to leverage the love for sports to sharpen the intellectual capacities of our students and pupils.
“This facilities on the ground is to properly train the youths to be the future of tomorrow, the students must develop themselves in academics and in sports,” Ekpoudom said.
The retired Deputy Inspector General of Police expressed displeasure that politicians were only using the youths for elections purposes instead of engaging in sports activities.
Earlier in his remarks, the Akwa Ibom State Chairman of Sports Writers Association of Nigeria, Comrade Emmanuel Akpan, said that the tour became necessary to allow SWAN members the opportunity to witness first-hand, the conscious efforts made by the school towards the development of sports in the state.
“We have heard the story of the renaissance of sports infrastructure in your school and we are here to witness it first-hand. As sportswriters, we are committed to the development and promotion of sports and it behooves on us to report such development to the general public wherever it may take place,” Akpan said.
Our correspondent reports that the infrastructure visited at the school were; a mini-stadium with 500 sitting capacity, complete with plastic seats and a standard natural-grassed football field with reinforced aluminum goalposts, modern basketball, volleyball, and tennis courts.
Others were; a long jump pitch, a fully-furnished squash court, a standard swimming pool, two badminton courts, and a standard indoor sports hall among others.