BY FRED ODU
On Friday, January 10, 2025, the leadership of the Professional Footballers Association of Nigeria, (PFAN), visited Distinguished Senator Ned Nwoko at his Maitama residence in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The visit, according to the President of the association and ex-international, Tijani Babangida, was to seek the support of Senator Nwoko, who is the Acting Chairman, Senate Committee on Sports, in enhancing the welfare of active professional football players and those who have retired from the game of football.
Tijani, a former Super Eagles winger and Ajax player, told their host that the association was formed primarily to empower footballers within and beyond the sporting circles and harness the power of football as a national and global unifying force.
He said the association was keen on partnering with Senator Nwoko’s Sports University, the first of its kind in Sub-Saharan Africa, located in Idumuje-Ugboko, Delta State.
The proposed partnership, according to him, would help to nurture young football talents and provide robust educational opportunities for sports professionals, noting the need to strengthen the structures that support Nigerian footballers.
Tijani Babangida emphasized PFAN’s commitment to working with Senator Nwoko and other stakeholders to build a thriving ecosystem for sports development in the country.
Responding, Senator Nwoko, representing Delta North senatorial district in the National Assembly, reaffirmed his commitment to supporting sports development in Nigeria
He assured PFAN of a closer working relationship to ensure the realization of the set objectives of the association, stressing the importance of players’ welfare and the broader growth of the game of football as a unifying force in the country.
No doubt, the visit was informed by Sen. Ned Nwoko’s pioneering effort in Nigeria’s sports and education sectors through the establishment of STARS University.
The Sports University, now in its third academic session, according to the Senator, was founded for talent development as it would identify and nurture young sports talents in Nigeria and beyond.
The institution would also provide academic and practical training in sports management, coaching, and physical education, as well as foster research and innovation in sports science, medicine, and technology.
With a state-of-the-art modern sports complex with facilities for various sports, including football, basketball, tennis, and athletics, well-equipped lecture halls, laboratories, and libraries, Ned Nwoko’s STARS University has all it takes to produce graduates who will be talented in different fields of sports, backed up with the academic know-how to carry on even beyond the circle of sports.
Also with sports training and education, which the Idumuje-Ugboko based university is equipped to provide, the era of professional sportsmen and women retiring to idleness and poverty should be considered to be over as Sen. Nwoko’s initiative will enable professionals to stand on their own without having to depend on anyone for survival.
Needless to say that local and international partnerships are needed to make the university thick and the authorities of the institution have acknowledged that by collaborating with foreign universities and renowned sports institutions to facilitate exchange programs, research, and knowledge sharing.
The partnership solicited by PFAN and its interest to work closely with the university, as well as the collaboration of other sports organisations, clubs, the Federal and State governments, are equally crucial to promoting sports development and early talent identification in the country.
