Anambra Sports Chairman Says ANSSI Is Redefining Grassroots Development
Patrick-Estate Onyedum, Chairman of Anambra State Sports Development Commission (ASSDC) has said the outgoing year was a successful one in the state’s sports sector.
Onyedum disclosed this while taking a retrospect of the outgoing 2024 in an interview in Awka.
He said the grassroots sports development programme model under the Anambra Sports Solution Initiative (ANSSI) had guaranteed steady and sustainable progress as seen in the state performances at national competitions.
Onyedum said he was recommending ANSSI to other states who wished to rejuvenate their sports as it bordered on talent discovery at the grassroots and nurture.
According to him, We started the year with ANSSI which is a flagship programme, under it, we organised competitions for children in primary and secondary schools, and it was a huge success.
“School sports was what we used to discover some of the best athletes we have produced, so grassroots sports development was the reason why the governor appointed me.
“With ANSSI, Anambra won seven gold medals at the National Youth Games in 2023, in 2024 we got nine gold medals which was a great improvement over our previous record.
“This was the outcome of our ANSSI programme, I am recommending that other states should emulate the model, it will encourage discovery of new athletes and also reduce poaching and cheating during competitions,” he said.
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Onyedum said the athletes who excelled at the national youth games got state and national scholarships with career development sponsorship as rewards.
He said the Commission through the approval of Gov. Chukwuma Soludo also successfully organised the second edition of the Anambra State Traders Sports Competition for about 118 registered markets in the state.
He said that was another empowerment initiative of the governor as winners won between N300,000 and N6 million for emerging tops in their various events.
Onyedum said 2025 would be a better sporting year in terms of activities and successes as it was expected that sports associations which had been
reconstituted would implement their programmes.
