By Sampson Unamka
A COMMISSIONER in the Federal Civil Service Commission, Mrs. Iyabo Odulate, has told parents to encourage their children to participate in sports.
Odulate, representing Lagos and Ogun in the commission, made the appeal last week at the 41st Interhouse Sports of the Federal Government Girls’ College, Sagamu, Ogun State.
Odulate was represented at the event by the National Secretary of the Trade Union Congress Women Commission, Mrs. Omolara Sansa. She said that sports was an integral part of education and that it had become a global money-spinning industry in which many Nigerians at home and abroad were benefiting from. “Parents, who may still be living in stone age when sports was regarded as the last option for dullards should desist from such thinking.
“Sporting activities have got much to do with religion as every religion believes in good health, which means that sporting activities are embedded in all of them,” she said
Odulate described the Federal Government Girls’ College, Sagamu, as an institution that has produced lots of notable women in society.
“The products of this school have excelled in virtually every field of endeavour and they have taken girl-child education to an unparalleled level.”
She also told pupils to imbibe the spirit of sportsmanship in whatever they engage in because sports had become a rallying point, unifying factor and means of psycho-motor development.
The Principal of the college, Mrs Oluwatofunmi Akamo, said there was need to occasionally engage students in sporting activities to boost their physical and mental fitness.
Akamo said: “A sound mind needs a sound body and it is necessary for students to pass their examinations.
“For this reason, the Federal Ministry of Education in line with the national policy on education ensures that sporting activities are organised not only within the college but outside the zone. Recently, our girls participated at the just-concluded Federal Government Colleges Games and they won medals.It will not be wrong to say that it is only in sports that Nigerians speak with one voice.”
Akamo, who is also a director in the Federal Ministry of Education, advised students to show determination at all times because life’s race needed to be completed whether one was feeling out of breath or not.
She appealed to parents and individuals to assist the school by renovating the sports pavilion, and provide facilities for both track and field events. She also canvassed for more trainers to harness the sporting skills of students of the college.
Sodehinde House clinched the first position at the event, while Ogun House came second with Rima House placing third.
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