Curtain falls on National Youth Games

The Sports minister and chairman National Sports Commission Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi while appraising the games said the outcome of the festival has exceeded his expectation despite the few hitches recorded at the onset.Abdullahi described the outcome of the games as a fantastic and expressed his satisfaction saying “the achievement recorded have even surpassed our objectives […]

The Sports minister and chairman National Sports Commission Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi while appraising the games said the outcome of the festival has exceeded his expectation despite the few hitches recorded at the onset.
Abdullahi described the outcome of the games as a fantastic and expressed his satisfaction saying “the achievement recorded have even surpassed our objectives in terms of identifying hidden talents and the level of participation”
The minister who agreed that there were some logistic problems like accommodation and transport, noted that as the median edition such was anticipated but hopefully in subsequent editions all lapses experienced will be checked.
Although the minister of sports gave the games a pass mark, ugly incidents of cheating were rampant while the fiesta lasted. Most states did not abide by the rules on eligibility of athletes and had themselves to blame as most of their athletes were disqualified.
On this the minister said those found wanting will be sanctioned though he is impressed with the efforts of the screening committee that did it best to checkmate the attempt to negate the reason for the games.
Despite the problems faced by participating states in the areas of accommodation, feeding and transportation, the games received commendation from most of the state directors of sports who praised the organisers who made concerted efforts to stage a hitch-free games.
The chairman technical committee of the Handball Federation of Nigeria, Alhaji Musa Baba Hamza said he is impressed with the success recorded as pilot programme as the body is satisfied with the arrangement put in place by the organizers.
Hamza advised that more of such games should be organized so that in no distant future the nation will regain her lost glory in some major sports like handball.
 Kano State director of sports, Alhaji Nasiru Suleiman on his part said the benefit of exposing the younger athletes to standard facilities and a competitive atmosphere for a greater challenge in the future cannot be quantified.
Suleiman said the essence of the games should not be beclouded by the quest of states battling for supremacy on their overall performance but how many talents were selected from their teams during the festival.
Former Edo State commissioner of Sports Mr. Brown Ebewele who applauded the idea behind the games, said it is a good youth festival the states should key into for the all over development of sports in the country.
“This is a laudable project. I see a bright future for sports in Nigeria. All we need is to be honest with ourselves and when we do the right thing we will definitely get the right result as the athletes progress,” Brown said.
For Alhaji Lawal Masha,an international Amateur Boxing judge and chairman of the Kano State Amateur Boxing Association said what impressed him most was the enthusiasm of the younger boxers during the games.
Masha said the government should not allow the programme to suffer any setback as this median edition has helped in exposing the abundant raw talents in the States in boxing.
“I must tell you, there were cases of some states coming into the competition with over aged athletes but thanks to the screening committee for reducing the numbers. In the first edition, things like this are expected to happen but the organizers should get the Federations involved in the screening. I feel this will check the excesses of the coaches who would want to win by all means thereby negating the whole essence of the games,” he said.
Despite the accolades heaped on the festival by major stakeholders, one challenge which substantially reduced the glamour of the games was the attempt to field over-aged athletes. It is on record that before and during the games, at least 1000 athletes were disqualified for being over-aged.
Some States had their teams or athletes disqualified as the games progressed after it was discovered that despite their clearance by the screening committee they were not eligible to participate in the games.
Worried by the development, the chairman of Main Organising Committee and director of Grassroot sports in the Sports ministry, Alhaji Alhassan Yakmut had to summon a meeting to explain that the reason for the games was for talent hunt and not for athletes that have competed in local and international games.
In his reaction, the technical director of Nigeria Volleyball Federation, Mr Tony Oghuma said while the games is a worthy project, the coaches who registered over aged players should be held responsible for the disappointment and embarrassment they faced.
Oghuma explained that the issue of age cheating with Benue State having the highest number of disqualified athletes should be looked into by the National Sports Commission as he said stiffer punishment will serve as deterrent.
He said on the part of the NVBF,the Federation is disappointed with the States coaches who have failed to explore the opportunity of the games to hunt for raw talents from their states for the National Youth Games.
“We as a federation gave each State 50 balls and nets and we expected them to go to the grassroot and discovered talents but what most of them succeeded in doing was to bring in players that have played in two national sports festival. They still have this mentality that we were coming here for the medals. This made me see them as a bunch of lazy coaches.
“We did not tolerate this in volleyball even though they were cleared by the screening committee, we still did not allow them to play in the competition” Oghuma said.
Furthermore, without a functional media center, the games could not enjoy adequate coverage in line with modern games. Apart from the media which was neglected, there were serious accreditation challenges for athletes and officials who attended the games.
Most analysts are of the view that despite some of the noticeable lapses during the games, for over 4,357 young athletes and officials to converge in one place without any major security challenge in this era of suffocating insecurity is something worthy of commendation.