Dankwambo will use sports to empower Gombe youths-Yarma
It is said the present governor of Gombe State is keen on empowering the youths of the state through sports. Is he to be taken seriously? The governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo has been a man of the youths. He is somebody who cares so much about the youths. Consequently, when we asked him to […]
It is said the present governor of Gombe State is keen on empowering the youths of the state through sports. Is he to be taken seriously?
The governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo has been a man of the youths. He is somebody who cares so much about the youths. Consequently, when we asked him to come and contest for the governorship of the state, he did not hide his intention to develop and change the youth for the better. Most of us agree with him because most youths of Gombe just like their counterparts in other places have become disoriented. They engage themselves in all manners of vices and unprofitable ventures. They need to be reoriented and empowered to be useful to their societies. The governor arrived with a well constructed blueprint and has already achieved much in the area of security and youth empowerment. What he wants to do is to use the power of sports to engender positive youth development. Through sports, he wants to reach and change the lives of the teeming youths. He is a man of his words. We have confidence in him. He is going to deliver on his promises using the power of sports.
You are one of the leading sports administrators in the state. How do you intend to assist the governor in accomplishing this mission?
As you may be aware, I was a special assistant on sports to the former governor of the state, Senator Danjuma Goje. His Excellency, governor Dankwambo is someone I have been with for long. I knew him before he was appointed the Accountant-General of the Federation. Here is a man of vision, always focused and transparently honest. I am confident that if given a chance, I will make available for the governor’s consideration pragmatic approaches to sports development. I will evolve sports development programmes that would transform the face of sports in the state. My concern would be with grassroots talent hunt. The programme of catching them young will be revived. Sports in Gombe would return to the primary, secondary and tertiary institutions of learning. It is at that level that budding athletes are identified and developed. The good thing is that the immediate past administration provided sufficient and standard sporting facilities that are at the disposal of our athletes. If we put our acts together, we would be able to produce athletes that would go on to represent the country at international competitions. Once we are able to go back to the basics, we would surely get the required materials. As a sports loving governor, he will listen to us and we would use the spirit of sports to create enabling environment for positive transformation of the state.
At the last National Sports Festival, Gombe was one of the states that could not win even a bronze medal. Is this not a bad commentary on sports administrators like you?
The performance of the state at the sports festival was to say the least embarrassing. But medals are not won by accident. It takes careful planning and adequate preparations. For a competition like he National Sports Festival, it should take not less than two years to prepare. You have to get the best technical hands and put your athletes in camp in good time. You also need to have the required facilities for the different sports. If you want to win you need to put your house in order. What happened is very unfortunate. We could not get even a bronze in Port-Harcourt. Now we are going to start from the scratch. We shall engage a lot of coaches to go round the state and search for talents. The catch them young program will be revived. When they are identified, we would bring them together, keep them in camp and provide what they need in terms of training and motivation to make them champion athletes. And at the end of the day, if you prepare for one or two years, you would be able to compete favourably. You cannot prepare your athletes for one or two weeks and expect them to win medals for you. It cannot happen. Even if you are given N1b you cannot win.
Gombe United FC is the only premier league club in the whole of North-East zone. Would you say the club is a worthy ambassador of the zone in terms of achievements?
We have always done our best just that it may not be good enough to meet the yearnings and aspirations of the people. However, since the current season is about to finish, we want to start preparations for the 2012/2013 in good time. God willing next season, we intend to start our preparations three months before the commencement of the season. We shall look at the present members of the team and also extend invitations to some of our boys who are playing for other premier league clubs. We would choose the best among them and encourage them to stay so that together we would build a formidable team. With the support of our governor, we intend to have a more befitting players secretariat, experienced technical crew, team camp and decent means of transportation. These are things we would try to have in good time.