Nigeria’s First Lady, Aisha Buhari and Speaker of the House of Representatives Rt. Hon Yakubu Dogara will be the standard bearers at the launch of the Chioma Ajunwa-Okpara Sports Foundation in the federal capital city of Abuja on Thursday, December 7.
The red carpet event will also witness several dignitaries from the sports world, the ministry of sports and corporate Nigeria, according to the Director General of the Foundation and former athletics great, Prince Henry Amike.
Amike revealed that the First Lady and the Speaker of the House of Representatives bought into the idea of the foundation, named after Nigeria’s only individual Olympics gold medalist till date, because the foundation will focus on developing grassroots talents that will win laurels in all athletics areas for the nation in the future.
The event venue is the pristine Barcelona Hotel in the Federal Capital and a member of the Organising Committee and Chairman of Edo FA, Frank Ilaboya, says after Thursday evening’s event, grassroots athletics in Nigeria will never be the same again.
“We are ready to ensure that using the Chioma Ajunwa-Okpara heroics, youths are taken off the streets and made to horn their trade in a determined effort to produce more of her likes”, he declared.
Amike was to further reveal that another launch will soon be organized in Lagos to sensitise Corporate Nigeria to support the programme. “Those of us in the foundation are men and women of Integrity and we want to assure all that we will take all along and bare it for the development of new athletics talents in the country”, the President of Nigeria Olympian Association (NOA), declared.