Kaduna state government has identified 32 secondary schools to provide with sports facilities in line with its reviving school sports and grassroots sports development programme.
The schools, were drawn from across the 12 educational zones in the state according to their prominence in sports over the years, while some second and third generation schools were included based on their potentials, according to the Kaduna state Commissioner for Sports, Prof. Kabiru Mato.
Addressing sports reporters on the sideline of the ongoing Kaduna State Secondary Schools Games on Thursday, Mato, who was represented by his Special Adviser on Media, Alhaji Ismaila Umaru Lere, said that the schools will receive interventions such as renovation of football field, athletics track, basketball/volleyball courts, lawn tennis court.
He said the schools would also benefit facility for traditional sports like ayo, kokowa, langa as well as chess and scrabbles. “We are reviving school sports in the state. We realise that so many facilities have gone bad due to mismanagement and encroachment. The process is on to develop sports in 32 schools across the state.
“The schools have been identified, we are on procurement. We used the schools’ prominence in sports in the past and schools like Government College, Barewa College, Queen Amina College Fadan Kagoro were all given priorities with second and third generation schools we arrive at three schools per zone. Most of the schools used to have the facilities but they are no longer there.
“The ongoing Kaduna State Secondary Schools Games, the first time in 24 years is conclusion of the 2019 edition. In the 2020 edition, we will include table tennis, lawn tennis, traditional sports, scrabble, chess and badminton. The final of the games will take place on Saturday with Governor Nasir el-Rufai expected to serve as the guest of honour.
“We have revived school sports and grassroots sports we are going to sustain it to identify budding talents, develop programme for their development, develop competition for their progress in sports and use sports to curb youth restiveness in the state,” Prof. Mato said.
