FOSLA Academy moving in the right direction- Lulu

You have just graduated the first set of JSS students in your academy, how fulfilled are you?We give thanks to almighty God and I must sincerely appreciate the entire people of this area, particularly Karshi and the people of the FCT, not forgetting the Federal Government of Nigeria. As I said earlier, this project commenced […]

You have just graduated the first set of JSS students in your academy, how fulfilled are you?
We give thanks to almighty God and I must sincerely appreciate the entire people of this area, particularly Karshi and the people of the FCT, not forgetting the Federal Government of Nigeria. As I said earlier, this project commenced because it was a blessing from God and government. The former Minister of the FCT, Malam Nasir El-Rufai gave me this land because he believes this is a very positive project. We are moving in the right direction. We have just taken a step with the graduation for these JSS 3 students.  We are still in the process of getting our dream actualised. They have just finished the first step of the junior school and they will be going to the senior school. However, we are not carried away by the performances of these students in academics and football. We are appreciating God that we have a dream, we have a stake and we are gradually going in the right direction.
It is an open secret that FOSLA Academy is about academics and football. How are the students faring in the area of football?
Well I must say I am getting overwhelmed with the performance of these boys. I thought when they will start real tournament at school level would be when we have got to SS1 or 2 but because of their level of exposure in the past two to three years, they gathered the confidence which is expected of a player willing to play at all levels. These boys most of them are U-15 but are ready to play against people who are over 17 and they are doing brilliantly. And what is actually making me happy is that they play in a tournament at Loyola Jesuit College where established schools with mature players participated but they came out victorious. That gave me the confidence that yes these boys are ready to compete. So I am sure from next season, these boys will be ready to take part in any tournament for secondary schools in the country.
Does your academy have any relationship with any foreign academy?
You see what we are trying to do here is we would go into partnerships only when we work harder than what we are doing. And the essence of what we are doing is with the little resources at our disposal, we want to perform and to excel. We have the opportunity to reach out to the outside world through the website and we are saying what the boys do on the field is what will sell them out. What they are doing with other group of schools is what will make them prominent. I do not want to look for patronage. I don’t want to look for people who are already established. I want their performance to establish them and sell them to that international level.
Is your academy enjoying the desired patronage from the cadet national teams?
The most important thing here is that we are a school that is concerned about developing youths and their talents. And they are also pursuing their educational career. Our overall objective is to help Nigeria actualise the dream of getting the very correct age of children to compete at international level. At the appropriate time, the government that made an enabling environment for us to operate will also believe that we are on the right tract. I am sure through the press, all those things would be sold out. The most important thing is that we are setting a pace through the press patronage. The world, the nation will get to know what is happening here in FOSLA Academy.
What have you done to ensure that these young boys remain under the control and guidance of FOSLA Academy?
The emphasis I have laid here is we are working together with the parents. Some of these boys I discovered them from street football. We also organised tournaments for primary students and we got the best and brought them here. In the process they are developing their talents. We have gone into agreement with the parents. The essence is to sponsor them through their educational programme from the primary, secondary and if possible tertiary level. It is important to note here that in the course of doing this, there is possibility that their talent in football will be so outstanding but we have a partnership with the parents to take them to where they are going. I am not in a hurry to leave these boys lose out there. These boys should not go out of the country until they are very very mature. They must play under 17 while they are in Nigeria. They must play U-20 while they are in Nigeria. Even under 23 they can be the best in the world while still in Nigeria. They can play for club sides in Nigeria and make the clubs the best in the world. It almost happened when TP Mazembe in Congo DR almost won the FIFA World Club Tournament. So here in Nigeria we can also depend on our boys. It is not only when we go out there that you make money. Money can be made here in Nigeria. This is my concept and my dream. I want to see how we can retain these boys here so that they can become heroes for their country before they go out. Most of those boys who emerge from Brazils and other Southern American countries are usually so popular in their countries before they go out.  Why should these boys rush out of the country?
Do you have plans to float a professional football club in future to accommodate these boys?
Our dream is we are going to partner with everybody that means well for the development of football and sports in this country. We are going to partner with well meaning people. We also have collective dream for the future. This environment is big, it is very large. This academy is not just secondary school. We have provision for a stadium. We also have provision to put up a structure that would accommodate more hostels. These things can be put in place to accommodate the future of these children when they transform to higher level. We want to nurture these boys in Nigeria until they are above 20. So it is either we partner with people who are established, people who really want to develop football or we continue because we have not seen those who would want to develop football the way we want.