The representative of Soccer Trial Scouting Programme, Capt. Jamil Abubakar MD has admitted the success of their exploits in Kano State, levelling it as a huge success and stated that engagement of the Nigerian youth through football will surely boost the country, Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The Soccer trial Scouting Programme which is aimed at youth empowerment in the country. The initiative is developed to enhance the youths for better future, scout for great and potential talents, who are within the age brackets, place them in their different academies, as well as sending these players abroad during the transfer windows, as this would also help the NFF in getting great players to represent the National team.
The Capt. Jamil Abubakar’s led team last year carried out their activity in Lagos, and continued the great work this year just as stated, in their tour in Kano State.
In an extensive interview with Sports247, on how their tour in Kano State went, The captain admitted that it was a huge success, as there were numerous turnout by great football young talents who came out massively to showcase their footballing skills and abilities. He also spoke about so many issues concerning how the tour in Kano State went, as he also compared it with the tour they had at the “Centre of Excellence”, Lagos State.
“Our tour in Kano State was very successful and good. We had to cancel two dates which we fixed. The first cancellation was based on the fact that the Government wanted to use the stadium, so we had to reschedule. So we moved it four days from the said date. Secondly, I fell ill, my partner fell ill as well, but the rest of the team were okay, but you know that trials cannot hold if We (I and my partner) were not there. We wanted to obtain the integrity of the process. We wanted it to be a fair event, making sure that nobody pays anybody anything to participate in the trials”.
“Comparing Lagos to Kano is almost like Segregation because I believe that the youths in Nigeria are everywhere, the north, South, East and west. Lagos was amazing, we found one or two talents that really impressed us and Kano too was indeed a ‘BOMB’ because we had a lot of players from different parts of the country, which includes the Yorubas, Igbos and the Hausas”.
“The volume of players that actually came before the second cancellation was more than a thousand. Thousands of players had earlier come but were disappointed due to the cancellation, they had to leave, some came from far places and they had to go back. So when we made the third announcement, a lot of people could not make it. The number of players we saw in Kano that came for the trials was close to a thousand if I am not mistaken”.
“It was a very good one, 3 days, we did the same process we ran in Lagos but this time around in Kano, we had to make an announcement to the players saying ‘If you paid anybody any money, we want you to raise your hands because if you do, we want you to go back and collect your money, if not you aren’t going to participate in the trial’. This was to discourage people from paying anyone for participation”.
“This whole idea is to get someone of nobody or people who are less opportunity to actually have the opportunity, just like somebody who will have the money to pay or someone who has the platform of leaving the country to go play in abroad to progress and make it”.
“After everything, on the third day, we let the coaches point out the boys who had potentials in them and are determined to travel abroad and the ones who will be in our academies, as originally stated in Lagos. We do not get involved in selection processes because we wanted it to be 100percent fair. I have received few calls from different people who wanted me to choose their relatives, but unfortunately, I couldn’t do much because I had to maintain the standards, if not there was no need for the trials, I should have just go to their homes and offer them the opportunity”.
“But that being said, in Kano, we had the same amount of a number of players that we did in Lagos. So right now, we have 5-6 boys that are going to travel abroad. Hopefully, end of January, at the most first week of February”.
“We also have a meeting with the Norwegian Ambassador, where we will take the opportunity to explain all that we have done and are doing as well as our plans for the future. We would also talk about the academy because we met the Governor of Kano State and told him about our plans, he was very excited in all that we are doing, so the Deputy Governor is actually handling the project. But now, we are trying to become as political as possible. We don’t want this to be a political movement or to have any political aspirations attached to it, we are trying to separate everything related to Nigerian politics from it. I know it will be difficult, but we will try to put stringing rules, to make sure that we don’t deviate from our mission”, he concluded.
Comments are closed.