Southwest States To Rebrand School Sports Programmes In Athletics To Attract Corporate Sponsors

Six States including Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Oyo in the South West Conference of Athletics Federation of Nigeria (SWAC) have agreed to rebrand school sports programmes and events to make them attractive for sponsorship by prospective corporate organizations 

The Working Committee of SWAC in a communique signed by its Chairman and Secretary respectively, Prof.

Tunde Makanjuola and Dr.(Mrs) Oluyomi Oluwasanmi of which a copy was made available to Edu-Biznews at the end of its conference over the weekend in Abeokuta, explained that under the rebranding, a uniform and robust school sports calendar would be developed with rich content to  make it attractive and give the prospective sponsors the needed visibility and mileage 

Stakeholders at the conference in the communique, also agreed to end what they described as unhealthy rivalry between Ministry of Education and Sports Commission or Sports Council, by putting mechanisms in place to ensure seamless talents transfer in each of the six states 

According to the communique, Government scholarship and Adopt-a-talent programme will be established to foster early stage development, talent incubation and opportunities for successful and rewarding professional sports careers among the students 

They agreed in the communique,that School Based Sports Programme should be handled by qualified, experienced and unbiased Technical Officials 

To achieve these objectives, the six states agreed to form a working unit,the South-West Athletics Group that will be run by a board consisting of all the Chairmen of the States  Athletics Associations with each taking annual turns as Chairman of the Board 

There will also be South-West Sports Development Trust Fund to provide adequate incentives and motivational packages for athletes, coaches and officials to promote better performances 

The Board is expected to put in place standardized and constant training programmes for coaches/technical officials, establish proper talent transfer mechanisms and ensure development of Sports Coaching Techniques towards the production of 15 podium athletes at the Olympics in 4 years’ time.   

The stakeholders according to the communique, agreed to maintain a good working relationship with the media, recognizing it as an integral part of the South-West Nigeria athletics community, while appreciating the Ogun State Government for successful hosting of the Conference held at the Providence Hotel in Abeokuta, the State capital