Commissioner for Youth and Sports in Osun State, Mr. Yemi Lawal has said the series of protests that greeted his tenure was because people failed to understand the sports policy he wanted to bring into the state’s sports sector.
Lawal stated this while featuring in a monthly guest appearance programme organized by the Osun chapter of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) tagged ‘Stakeholder’s Forum’ held on Wednesday, May 19, 2021, at the Late Chief Ogunjobi Football House, Osogbo Township Stadium.
The Commissioner who said Osun has never recorded any tangible achievement in sports maintained that his desire to do things differently as a youth met stiff resistance from people in the sports sector which is one of the problems militating against sports development in the state presently.
“As a youth, I want to do things differently but people didn’t understand this. This led to series of protests which enveloped my tenure. The thing is we cannot be doing things the same way and expect different results. We have to think out of the box and bring on board a new system.
“Osun has never made any significant achievement in sports because there is no record to show for it. Even in the recently concluded National Sports Festival in which our athletes participated, I haven’t seen any report from the sports council to show our strength and weaknesses. This current challenge we are going through will continue until we all retrace our steps and agree to do things the right way.”
Speaking on efforts of the present administration to reposition the sector, the Commissioner revealed that Governor Gboyega Oyetola has approved the proposal to organize a Sports Festival to discover more talents across the nooks and crannies of the state.
“One of the efforts we are putting in place to identify new talents in the upcoming State Sports Festival which has been approved by Mr Governor and will come up by August this year. We discovered that we have been recycling the same athletes for national competitions and it is high time we replaced them with new, agile ones to be able to produce new champions in all categories of sports.”
On the sports facilities available, Lawal who admitted that the state does not have enough sports facilities said the Ministry would liaise with other towns and institutions like Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife to use some of their facilities for the upcoming event.
“It is true that our sports facilities in Osun are not enough. We have decided to partner with OAU Ile Ife and other towns that have sports facilities that we can make use of during the state festival.”
The commissioner however assured that Osun SWAN would be properly carried along in any sporting events organized by the state government for required publicity and promotion.
Among those present at the forum are the Former South West Vice President of SWAN, Alhaji Muideen Adeleke, the immediate past Chairman, Osun SWAN, Mr. Yemi Aboderin, General Manager of Osun State Sports Council, Mr. Rotimi Dunmoye as well as journalists from print and broadcast media across the state.
