President of the Nigeria Volleyball Federation, Engr. Musa Nimrod has lambasted state governments in Nigeria for paying lip service to sports development in their state while also expressing disappointment with the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports.
Speaking with www.theajasanews.com in Abuja, Nimrod noted that most of the states have far departed from the tradition of discovering new Athletes, lamenting further that even the few discovered once the states do not have a way of retaining them thereby paving the way for the paramilitary and the military to grabbing them.
He noted that the situation where the military and the paramilitary are now the owners of the players is some how hampering their progress at the National level, “Military and paramilitary employ these athletes and they prefer to send their players to clubs championship so that they can grow.
“We need to go back to the 70s and 80s where athletes were been employed by states government. But the unfortunate thing is that states are no more doing their jobs.
“They need to support and encourage us to develop the game in the country. There will be no more Boko Haram and kidnappers if these youths are well engaged,” he said.
Engr. Nimrod also lamented that the federation did not receive any support from the Nigeria government nor from the Private organisations in the organization of the just concluded Africa beach Volleyball championship in Abuja.
“Beach volleyball has a product to sell, let sponsors come and partner with us. 21 countries participated in this championship, we did it all alone,” he said.
The tournament was hosted by the Nigeria Volleyball Federation (NVBF), in conjunction with the Confederation of African Volleyball (CAVB)
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