The Kwara government says ongoing massive investment in sports infrastructure in the state is to productively engage youths and make the state a centre of attraction for national and international championships.
The Chief Press Secretary to Gov. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, Rafiu Ajakaye, stated this on Thursday when he visited the sites of some of the ongoing construction and renovation works at the Kwara State Stadium Complex in Ilorin.
The governor’s aide, who described his principal as a sports loving governor, said he was glad but not surprised at the huge investment.
“This shows who the governor is, you have somebody who is a sports person, you can see the impact all around the stadium.
“I am aware that some of the facilities we are renovating have never been renovated before.
“Young people will be inspired to go into sporting activities once the facilities are fixed, they will be inspired.
“One of those things that draw people around here is availability of the facilities, once you have the facilities you are inspiring the young generation to go into sports,” Ajakaye said.
He said the facilities, when completed, would help attract competitions from outside the state thereby boosting the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).
In his reaction, the State Director of Sports, Malam Ibrahim Alarape, who conducted the CPS round the projects, said no governor had ever given priority to renovation of the facilities and initiated new ones like AbdulRazaq.
The Kwara director of sports said when completed, the facilities would help develop the state’s athletes because when federations camped in the state, they would compete with the best hands in the country.
Briefing the CPS at one of the sites, Dr Belawu Abdulkadir, the engineer in charge of construction of eight new squash courts, said the project was expected to be delivered at the end of March.
Abdulkadir noted that when completed, Kwara would be the only state in Nigeria with eight squash courts of international standard in one place.
Reports state that the Kwara government is constructing eight new squash courts and renovating an olympic standard swimming pool.
Others are: renovation of handball courts, basketball courts as well as the hostels at the Kwara Football Academy (KFA) that is almost at completion stage.