The Nasarawa State Government has reiterated its commitment to the promotion of grassroots football development.
Commissioner of the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, Kwanta Yakubu, stated this at the commencement of the 9th edition of the Mailafia Peace and Unity Football tournament in the Daddere community of Obi local government area of the state.
The 9th edition of ACP Yakubu Agabi Mailafia comprises 32 teams from two senatorial districts, providing an opportunity for at least 400 local players and technical crew to trade tackles for the coveted trophy within three months.
Defending Champions Thunder FC of Agyaragu took the battle of supremacy to the doorstep of Greater Tomorrow of Lafia with some cutting-edge frills and drills that gave the spectators the excitement of watching classical grassroots football at its best.
READ ALSO: “Nigeria is the greatest asset for football development” -President Buhari
After an intense fight for possession and control, Greater Tomorrow took the lead; however, the defending champions, Thunder FC, capitalised on a silly and suicidal mistake of the goalkeeper of Greater Tomorrow to level up, and at the tail end of the game, Greater Tomorrow scored their second goal, making the game more entertaining as it ended two-one.
Commissioner of the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, Kwanta Yakubu, extolled the commitment of the sponsor of the tournament and directed the management of Nasarawa United to work closely in selecting future players, just as he assured of government readiness to support such a laudable initiative of investing in sports at the grassroots, with the Commissioner of Lands, Barrister David Sule Moyi, corroborating the submission.
“I commend the organiser for this tremendous effort of bringing youth together by fishing out young talent. What I’ve seen today is highly inspirational; I’m highly moved. I’ve directed the chairman of the United Football Team and the technical officers, both the feeder team and the major team, to come for the talent hunt.
I’m highly confident that before the end of this competition, we’ll have some competent hands that can feed our major team”, Kwant said.
Also speaking, Sangarin Shabu, Umar Mamud Bwalla and the Chairman for the annual Competition, Muhammad Dan Azumi and the Sole Administrator of Daddere affirmed that the essence of staging the competition which peace and unity have been achieved and threw their weight behind Mailafia’s quest to add value to young people by giving them the opportunity to expose themselves through Sports.
For the Sponsor of the tournament, ACP Yakubu Agabi Mailafia, investing in grassroots was a deliberate step to changing the narrative of budding talents, building confidence, resilience, peace and unity of the State and also giving hope through sports.
“All of us here are winners already, just like we always do every year, the first two teams from every team in this group will start winning. The first 16 will win, we have the quarter-finalists and the semi-finalists, and we continue to win
until we reach the final”.
ACP Mailafia further appreciated stakeholders for believing in the projects and encouraged the players to give their best for the sake of their careers, just as he disclosed that this year’s tournament will experience some positive vibes.