Mr Sunday Dare, Minister of Youth and Sports Development, has called on youths to take advantage of the sporting facilities provided at the grassroots to develop their budding talents.
Dare said this in a statement signed by Mr Mohammed Manga, Director, Press and Public Relations of the ministry in Abuja on Thursday.
He said that such act would enable them to compete favorably with their counterparts across the globe.
The minister made the call during the official commissioning of a 500-capacity mini stadium in Ode-Aremo, Oyo State.
According to him, the facility being commissioned comprises a football pitch, two block of public toilets, borehole with overhead tank and water reticulation as well as solar streetlights.
He said that President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration had in the last seven years, committed many resources into the rehabilitation of moribund sporting facilities as well as building of new ones across the country.
According to Dare, this is aimed at engaging the nations over 60 per cent youth population, to provide them with the opportunity to explore their sporting skills with a view to making themselves and the country proud.
“We have over 100 sporting facilities built by government across the country but because of lack of good maintenance culture, more than 85 per cent of them are completely bad.
” But now, we have seen the return of many of our stadia back to life,” he said.
The minister said the event was significant because of the drive and the passion behind it, noting that with the commitment of the present administration to sports development, the ministry had turned what used to be a dump site into a Metropolitan Community Sporting Arcade.
He charged the community leaders to ensure proper management of the stadium by engaging the services of capable facility managers who would account for its management.
Earlier, the House of Rep Akeem Adeyemi, representing Afijio, Atiba, Oyo East and West Constituency, thanked the present administration for providing capable leadership through the ministry in making the mini stadium.
He commended Dare and Buhari’s administration for their commitment to sports development through ensuring timely release of funds for the completion of the project, assuring that it would be immediately handed over to the community for use,