The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) says it remains committed to giving students opportunities to engage in sporting activities.
The Permanent Secretary, Dr Olushola Adeshola, said this on Thursday when he received in his office, the FCT contingent to the Nestle Milo National Basketball Championship held in Lagos.
Olushola said that the FCTA was committed to developing its students through sports, and lauded the efforts of Government Secondary School (GSS), Karu, for giving FCT podium outing at the just concluded Nestle Milo Championship.
“Sports come with a lot of rewards and your victory in Lagos will spur us to look inwards at identifying talented athletes and nurture them,” he said.
According to Adeshola, sports is part of the activities recognised and appropriated for its contributions to the development of our children and it gives meaning to life.
“We have seen many sports stars from this competition. We shall support you as you prepare to represent the country at the World School Basketball Championship in China.”
The Director, FCT School Sports, Adamu Ojah, said GSS Karu had become a household name in Basketball.
“I want to sincerely bring to your attention that GSS Karu, Abuja, has been consistent as far as Nestle Milo Basketball Championship is concerned.
“They have been representing FCT since 2016 till date.”
Paul Edeh, partners of the FCTA in School Sports Developnent, said he was glad that the collaboration with his foundation was yeilding the desired results.
“We will continue to double our efforts to ensure that when these young lads are discovered they will be given regular training and I’m very happy with what GSS Karu is doing in training the children, as they train from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
“Others are training in the afternoon and others train in the evening. No wonder they are representing Nigeria in the World Basketball Championship.
“I am confident that five years is still a long time and if within this short time we could come up with this kind of feat, I am sure in the next couple of years, we will have more trophies coming out of the FCT,” Edeh said.
He announced a donation of N500,000 to the management of GSS Karu for the development of basketball infrastructure in the school.
It would be recalled that GSS Karu defeated their opponents from Lagos, 46 to 43 points to emerge champions of the 23rd edition of the championship, while the girls category, FCT lost 50 to 53 points to team Lagos.
With the feat, GSS Karu would represent Nigeria at the World School Championship in China later in the year.
Captain of the boys team, Sambo Ibrahim, said the school would not relent in its determination to win the global championship for the country.
“We shall work hard not to disappoint FCT and Nigeria in general at the 2023 World Championship in China.”
Source: News Agency of Nigeria
