The North East Development Commission (NEDC) yesterday launched the inaugural grand finale of the Secondary Schools Sports Tournament in Bauchi, aimed at discovering young talents and developing their professional sporting careers across the six states in the North East region.
The tournament, featuring Football, Basketball, Athletics, Table Tennis, and Lawn Tennis, is held under the theme “Promoting Unity, Peace, and Regional Integration through Youth Sports Development.”
At the opening ceremony, NEDC’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mohammed Goni Alkali, emphasized that sports are a proven tool for uniting communities, fostering social cohesion, and supporting peace-building efforts in the region.
Represented by NEDC Head of Scholarship Bar Khalifa Lawal, Alkali said, “Given the situation in the North East region, where there are many challenges of mistrust and suspicion, sports can be leveraged in bringing fractured relationships across social, cultural and religious divides within the communities and inculcating a sense of shared identity and fellowship amongst youths in the region. This is why this tournament and competition are organized to promote unity, peace and regional integration.”
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Alkali explained that the NEDC aims to tackle the region’s challenges, including poor human development indices, high illiteracy, and elevated poverty levels, by investing in human capital to build the skills needed for the North East’s infrastructural and socioeconomic advancement.
Alkali added that these objectives can be met by organizing regional sports competitions, systematically documenting young athletes’ achievements, enhancing the skills of school games instructors, and enrolling talented youth in sports academies to foster further growth.
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