Newly elected president of the Archery Federation of Nigeria, Mohammed Abdullahi, has said his immediate plan is to take the sport to the grassroots and amateur levels, beginning with institutional games where he said talents abound.
The president, who disclosed this when he and members of his board paid a courtesy call on the NOC president Engineer Habu Gumel, said his federation will beam its searchlight on games such as NUGA, Police Games, Military Games, FEPSGA, the National Sports Festivals and a host of others.
Abdullahi also said although a technical sport, the future of archery in Nigeria is quite bright because it is not alien to the people who are already used to local hunting with bows and arrows.
His words: “The game will get easy patronage and support in Nigeria because it is similar to our local hunting. It is a game of aim and shoot that can be likened to the bow and arrow game.
“Archery is also a game of aim and shoot with modern equipment instead of the bow and arrow we use in Africa, and as such, we cannot say it is alien to us in Africa.
“It means then that we will have to start from the grassroots from our localities in Nigeria to go in search of athletes, including starting from both our primary and secondary schools for talents hunt.
“We shall also start from the amateur level where we will focus on institutional sports and games such as NUGA, Police Games, Military Games, FEPSGA, National Sports Festivals etc.
“This is because we believe these are areas where we can find raw talents for nurturing and grooming for stardom.”
The president also expressed hope that his election as the new president would bring back the much-needed peace in the federation for the good of the sport.
