NSC Wants HIV/AIDS Seminars For Athletes

Super Eagles player trying to beat an opponent during World Cup qualifiers in Calabar, Cross River State, recently

The National Sports Commission (NSC) yesterday directed sports federations in the country to introduce HIV/AIDS seminars in their annual development programmes for athletes.
The NSC Director of Grassroots Sports Development, Al-Hassan Yakmut, told newsmen in Abuja that the programme would help to sensitise athletes to the need to avoid the scourge.
The NSC directive comes on the heels of the launch of the UN programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) Protect the Goal Initiative.
The initiative seeks to harness the power of sports around the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
It also seeks to promote an AIDS-free generation.
Yakmut said that the Minister of Sports, Tamuno Danagogo, had already directed the Grassroots Sports Development Department of the commission to develop a framework for the programme.
He said that the commission was working out modalities for collaboration with the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA).
“The minister has requested that the Grassroots Sports Development Department should work closely with NACA.
“All the sports federations and state sports councils shall be involved in this exercise; there are over 1,500 formal sports events that take place in Nigeria.
“They may not be evenly distributed because some states are doing more than the others, but statistics shows that over 25 million children or youths have access to sporting activities,’’ Yakmut said.
He urged NACA to utilise opportunities created by sports in the country to develop the youth.