Damiete Braide
Ondo State Governor and Chairman, Western Nigeria Governors Forum, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, the has urged the Nigerian American Football Association (NAFA) and Lagos Marine American Football Club to consider visiting his state to explore youthful talents that are in abundance therein, promising to partner the organisations to use sports to grow wealth and promote peace in Nigeria.
The governor declared his administration will soon build a world class football academy to train, grow and expose youths in Ondo State to the international clubs, stating that sport is a goldmine that his administration and governors in Western Nigeria plan to use to wage war against the surge of youth unemployment currently ravaging the country.
Speaking at the maiden edition of American Flagship Football exhibition game held at National Stadium, Surelere, Lagos, vowed to use his connections across the length and breadth of Nigeria to revolutionise the growth of American Flagship Football Game in the country.
Represented by the state Commissioner for Sports and Youth Development, Bar Dotun Owanikin said, “the National Sports Festival is our home-grown Olympics tagged EDO 2020. It is therefore probable to conclude that if one of the objectives of the exhibition game is to feature many of the players who would form the bulk of the team to represent Nigeria in international football games, we have to applaud your organisations for thus significant contributions to sports development in this country.