ABIA READY TO PARTNER INTERNATIONAL SPORTS EXPERTS TO DEVELOP ATHLETES FROM CRADLE – GOV OTTI
Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, OFR, has expressed government’s readiness to partner international sports development experts to identify talented athletes in the State and develop them from a young age.
Speaking on Monday, when he received a team of sports development experts from Hungary, led by Ndudi Edede, founder/CEO of Dreamland Football Academy, Abuja, Governor Otti said that government would give the team the necessary support they need to actualise their mission.
“It is very interesting listening to the presentation you have just made, and, I think it’s a step in the right direction. When you catch them young you can easily train them and impact skills, technical skills that are required. We are very excited about that opportunity.
“Yes you are very correct; a lot of our people are very much endowed with talent in football and other types of sports, in innovation, in businesses. Just name it,” the Governor said.
The Governor assured the Hungarians that they would get all the talents that they need in Abia, adding that all they require is honing the skills of the young athletes and training them to understand the technicalities of the sport they are involved in, particularly football.
The Commissioner for Sports and Youth Development, Sir Nwaobilor Ananaba, earlier in his speech said that the international sports development experts from Hungary are among the prospective global partners he had been speaking with to help deliver the Governor’s mandate on sports development, from the grassroots.
He further explained that he invited them to come and witness the Governor’s Secondary School Unity Games, currently ongoing so that they could see the talents that abound in the State.
A member of the team Karoly Gelei, a FIFA/UEFA Match Agent, who was part of the team, said that Abia State is blessed with an abundance of football/sports talents waiting to be developed to become professionals.
He confessed that he had been to so many nations and had not seen so many young stars like they had seen in Abia. He said that they were in the State to start a scouting project to give the young stars an opportunity to go to Europe, develop further and compete favourably at any level.
The founder of Dreamland Academy, Edede, who hails from Ukwa part of the State, thanked Governor Otti for his sincere and visionary leadership. He said it was the Governor’s performance so far in office that informed the decision of the Hungarians to come to Abia, adding that they were in Abia to identify young talents, develop them, and create jobs through sports.
Nwahiwe Chinonyerem Cleverson, Information Officer Government House Press. 26/3/2024
