Anambra Sports Commissioner Promises Grassroots Oriented Development Policy
The Anambra government says it will make laws that will make sports development a critical a component of local council administration
Patrick Agha Mba, Commissioner for Youth Development and Sports in Anambra said this after his inauguration alongside other new Commissioners and Heads of Agencies by Gov. Chukwuma Soludo on Monday.
Mba, the Commissioner for Youth Empowerment in Soludo’s first term was one of the five Commissioners who were retained and sworn in for the second term by the governor.
He said the ministry under him would implement policies and programmes that would ensure that talent discovery and youth development took place at the grassroots.
He said sports would be mainstreamed as part of the creative economy and elevated grim routine activity to core professional endeavour.
He said that his ministry would push for legislation that would make youth development and sports as a crucial component of local council administration.
Mba appreciated Soludo for giving him another opportunity to serve the state, describing it as a milestone for youth development.
“I want to thank the governor for finding me worthy of this appointment, of course we have done it before and I believe that the reward for good work is more work .
“We are going to mainstream sports business in Anambra and make it part of the creative economy.
“We will devolve sports to the grassroots by creating a law that will Gazette sports and youth development into the local government authority administration.
“It will be a bottom up approach to sports development,” he said.
Mba said sports and youth development would be an inclusive effort that would involve the State government, local government authorities and the private sector.
He assured that sports would not suffer as a result of its return to the ministry but would rather get priority attention as a part of Soludo’s holistic approach to youth development and empowerment.
“The governor is very intentional about human capital development and he wants to make it better by addressing youth development holistically.
“The state will major in building a conducive sports ecosystem, the structure is already there.
“This time, we will institutionalise it and devolve it to the local authority.
“The state government alone cannot do it, we will involve local councils and private partners,” he said.
