The Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) has identified stakeholders’ collective responsibility as the critical key toward achieving the desired transformation in the nation’s sports sector.
Mr Oluwatoyin Asaju, Deputy Director with NCC, said this while interacting with newsmen on the sideline of the ongoing NCC Lawn tennis Nationwide League taking place at the Kwara Stadium Sports Complex, Ilorin.
Tidesports source reports that the group stage preliminaries of the 4th edition of the league is taking place in eleven other venues simultaneously across the country.
The 2017 edition of the league which attracted a cash prize of N7 million was won by the Civil Defence team.
Asaju, the Team Leader for the event in Kwara, said the nation could only be ranked among the top contenders in international sporting event if the sector was fully developed.
He said the commission also had the desire to promote the nation’s sports, adding that the public and private sectors must leverage on the army of talents in the country.
He said that the commission’s participation in sports development, especially as regard lawn tennis, was an integral part of its corporate social responsibility.
According to him, the NCC’s involvement is informed by the need to discover new and younger talents that could fly the nation’s flag in both national and international sports meets.
He said the overall essence and desire was to assist and support government in its sports developmental drive.
Asaju said the choice of lawn tennis was to ensure that the game was fully developed and monitored by the commission.
He, therefore, urged other corporate organisations and individuals to key into promoting different sports to achieve the desired results of the country competing in variety of sports at global level.
“All of us have to come together, the public and private sector, to contribute our quota to the development of sports.
“On our own, we have chosen lawn tennis, other corporate bodies or individuals can pick other sports apart from football whether in partnership to grow promote and develop them to full capacity.
“So, that at the end of the day, the entire sport sector will be generally developed,” he said.
Asaju, who expressed delight at the commission’s involvement in sports development, however, urged the government to further boost the sector’s financial and infrastructure capabilities.
“With more enlightenment being fostered through the games, I think the objective of our participation is being achieved,” he said.
He expressed the commission’s readiness to expand the scope of its sponsorship of the game if more funds were available.
Mr Bola Amurawaye, the Team Manager for Team Goshen, praised the NCC management for its foresight in organising the tennis tournament for talents hunt.
“This is our third year of participating in the league and as more awareness and talents are being discovered there is the need for more corporate sponsorship,” he said.
Tidesports source also reports that the league has attracted scores of lawn tennis armatures and raw talents from all the centers.