LAGOS - A physiotherapist, Emmanuel Olajimi, has said that government’s failure to provide the needed sporting facility in public schools is a constraint to sports development at the grassroots.
Olajimi told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the absence of facilities for sports in schools negated government’s policy in developing sports at the grassroots.
He said that sports done on courts such as handball, squash, tennis, volleyball and badminton were the worst affected.
Olajimi, who is attached to the Lagos State Handball Association, said that it had also affected the discovery of talents in public schools.
He urged the government to begin a conscious effort to reclaim public school land that had been encroached on by people who used them for purposes other than growing sports.
“People are grabbing the space (land) meant for sports development in our public schools to build residential quarters, factories, markets and halls for parties.
“The government should recover these property and use them to build courts for use by school children,” he said.
The Lagos State Sports Council Coordinating Officer, Akin Lad igbolu told NAN that government intended to build courts at strategic locations in line with its proposed zoning of the state.
“Schools at Epe and Ikorodu are likely to get badminton and tennis courts built there because historically, the area has produced skillful players.
“The building of those facilities is also in keeping with the decentralisation of talent-hunt that the sports council is pursuing,” he said.
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