Women advocate grassroots sports development to curb insecurity

The Federal Government must focus on grassroots sports development if it must curb the menace of insecurity in the country, Nigerian women have said.
Speaking under the aegis of Association of Nigerian Women in Sports, they posited that it is only sports that could help stop extreme threat to peace and security across the nation.
Dr. Bello Odunola of the Department of Physical and Health Education, Federal College of Education, Zuba Abuja, spoke on Saturday at the dinner to mark the end of a three-day national conference in Minna.
She tasked the Federal Government to adopt grassroots and community sports development, saying “the present Military or Armed approach at solving the problem of insecurity is not enough, the Federal
Government must key into grass root and community sport development.
“There is need to adopt both civil and military strategies in order to attain both short and long terms solution.
“The root causes which include poverty, struggle for scare resources, violation of human rights, unemployment, corruption, threat and intimidation must find immediate solution and catching them young is better.
“Efforts should be concentrated at grassroot and community sport levels rather than at sport competitions which more than often not leave the man-in-the-street, on the street and outside of the area.”
Dr. Odunola spoke further, “for the advocacy of grassroots sport to work, each community should identify existing areas of inadequacies and develop basic needs model in which physical education activity has an essential presence is integrated with educational policies, supported by government and non-governmental agencies working comparatively in partnership.”
In her opening remarks, National President (NAWIS) Dr. Gloria Obajimi charged female students in the country to take advantage in school sports so as to add more value to their lives. According to her, “Female students and girls must take part in various sports of their choice so that you can achieve better goals”
She however charged Federal and States Governments to ginger the Nigerian girl child to fit into the society.