Gafar Reveals How Sanwo-Olu Is Creating New Narrative In Youth Engagement In Lagos

Since Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu assumed power in 2019, he has left no one in doubt of his government’s readiness to harness the potentials of the youths for sustainable development in the state and to achieve this objective,  he has devoted more attention to the sports sector to get the job done.

“We have Mr Governor to thank for all the achievements that have been noticeable in sports in Lagos. The Governor has been so magnanimous in his support for all our programmes to organise competitions and as you can see Lagos state sports environment has been a beehive of activities since the governor assumed office,” said Mr Oluwatoyin Gafar, Director-general, Lagos State Sports Commission during an interview in his office early this week.

“The Governor has created a new narrative in youth engagement in this country by using sports as a tool to integrate the youths and keep them busy.

“We will continue to do what we are doing, as we have a lot of programmes and projects on our hands. The construction of six new stadia of international standards across the state. We are having sports intervention in education. There is going to be community games that will involve wards in all the local government areas in the state. They will compete in 12 selected sports. We will also organise the traditional games, all this before the year runs out. 

“What we are going to do is to end this year with sports festivities. We hope to make the youths of the state happy courtesy of the focused and exemplary action of Mr Governor. We are so much grateful to Governor  Sanwo-Olu for his support, ” Gafar said.

The erudite sports administrator was also full of praises to the Governor for giving the support as Lagos now playing host to Nigeria’s Super Eagles whenever they are having their home games especially in the ongoing Africa qualifying series for the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup.

“We are battle-ready to host the last match of the Eagles against Cape Verde. We are happy that Lagos is part of the success story of the national team as they race towards playing at the World Cup. We believe that Nigeria will qualify, that is the reason we want to take the preparation for the game seriously.

“We have to thank Mr Governor for giving us the enabling environment for Lagos to pass the test when Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) came to inspect facilities before giving us the nod to have 5, 000 fans at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere for Nigeria matches.

“You can’t believe that we are so fortunate for CAF to give us 5, 000 fans, many other African nations are playing their matches behind closed doors. We were given this grace because of what the government has put in place to curtail the spread of coronavirus when CAF came here for inspection. CAF officials said that we are in control of COVIDF-19 in Lagos.

“Every facility at the Teslim Balogun Stadium is of international standard. This shows that we do not relent in making Lagos a sports hub in Africa,” he said.

Watch the video of the interview: