Nigeria women football great and Assistant Coach of Heartland Queens FC of Owerri, Stella Mbachu, has advocated that the Aisha Buhari Invitational Women’s Tournament be sustained in the interest of women and girls in Nigeria and other parts of Africa.
“Football has a way of driving home messages better and across wider territories, and you would be surprised at how far the messages can go. In this light, I am calling on the organisers and also the First Lady herself to see to the sustenance of the laudable project.
“It is usually easy to start a project, but here in Africa, sustaining it is always a challenge. I am appealing to the First Lady to sustain it even after she must have left office. It should not be allowed to die.”
The Aisha Buhari Foundation focuses on women and young girls as well as vulnerable people like widows, orphans and the disabled across the country. The programme involves training for entrepreneurial skills and provision of starter packs, conditional and unconditional cash transfers and provision of business tools.
Mbachu also said the tournament will help participating teams in their preparation towards the qualification race of the 2022 Women AFCON and the Championship proper.
“It is a good tournament and even has all the characteristics of the Women AFCON. It is a great opportunity for the teams involved to prepare for the major tournaments ahead.”
Meanwhile, former Super Falcons’ defender Adanna Nwaneri has connected the hosting of the Aisha Buhari Invitational Women’s Football Tournament with the other laudable programmes of the country’s First Lady, Dr (Mrs) Aisha Buhari and declared that the tournament is in the interest of the girl-child across the African continent.
Nwaneri believes the Aisha Buhari Cup tournament has the capacity to contribute to the empowerment of the girl-child as the showpiece will create awareness in far-flung places and other terrain not really disposed to allowing women and girl-child to partake in the game of football.
“The tournament will further create awareness of women football especially in other parts of the country where the idea is not well-received for women to play football. Now, with a woman of the status and decency of the First Lady supporting such an idea, the idea will become well-received and the negativity will ebb away.
“Many things will change with the Aisha Buhari Cup. It will become clearer that football is for everyone that has the capacity and the talent to engage in it,” Nwaneri stated.