The House of Representatives Committee on sports says it is poised to enhance sports development in the country through the establishment of ‘playing turfs’ in each of the 360 federal constituencies in the country.
Also, the committee says plans are under way to establish 30 mini-stadiums nationwide to boost sports and restore the country to its pride of place in African and Continental sports.
Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Sports, Hon. Godfrey Ali-Gaiya dropped this hint in an Abuja recently.
“W are hoping that before the end of our tenure, we’ll ensure every constituency has a playing turf. We are thinking of building mini stadiums playing fields at the grassroot level so as to expose our teeming youths to sports.
The committee appropriated for over 30 of such”, he said.
The mini-stadium, he said, would have turfs fro basket ball, volleyball and handball as well as other sports, with an indoor sports hall when built adding that there is a deliberate policy in place to groom the country’s teeming youths for sports, using these facilities.
He also recalled that Nigerian football attended an appreciable level of success in the 1990’s under coach Clemens Westerhorf because Westerhorf discovered talents at the grassroots and groom them for the national team, regretting that these days, coaches use mostly ready-made players rather than scouting for talents at the grassroot.
Hon Gaiya said,the committee considers the problem with Nigerian Sports as lack of grassroot development and was resolute to tackle it from tally and return the country to its days of glory in sports.
“In 1994, Nigeria became the 5th best football nation in the world so we want to return to those old days.  That’s precisely the challenge facing the committee.  We resolved to invite the NFF/NFA and other stakeholders and dialogue so that Nigerian football does not suffer setback (in the months and years ahead)”.
The committee he said a lot in the last two years but admitted that enormous task’ lies ahead so the committee will not falter in its responsibilities as all hands will continue to be on deck to take Nigerian sports to the heights.
“The position has enormous challenges. I came at a time our sporting process was being put to test. In the last few days, virtually all over football teams crashed out from one competition or the other.
Having said that, hope is not lost. It’s the challenge before the committee and we ‘ll ensure our sports bounce back (fully)”, he assured.