Renowned sports commentator, Dr. Emeka Odikpo, has urged the country’s political leaders to lead in the fight against violence using sports as the instrument.
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Odikpo, who said that sports have special roles to play in the quest for peace and social development, added that the sector could also create job opportunities for unemployed youths if given the required attention.
 
Speaking in Abuja after receiving an award as “Peace Ambassador, Doctoral Fellow, and Certified Sports Conflict Mediator” from the Institute of Global Peace and Conflict Management, Odikpo said that Nigeria is still a toddler enterprise in sports, unlike some other African countries like South Africa, Morocco and Egypt.
 
“In our league, the win at home at all cost syndrome is dragging our football down. I intend to use the position I have now to penetrate the league and have serious sessions and symposiums with club administrators and fans alike.

“As a certified sports conflict mediator, I intend to play a big role, especially in Nigerian football because football has gone beyond recreation to big business.”
 
Dr. Odikpo, who retired as a Zonal Director at the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), described his award as a wake-up call for him to contribute his quota to ensuring a peaceful society.
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 “The world needs peace. There is war all over the world: Israel in Gaza, Ukraine – Russia, and the entire Southern Sudan and Somalia, as well as the bandits and Boko Haram,” he said.

“When you look at the cost of war you will know that it is cheaper to embrace peace. If there is no sustainable peace, there will be no sustainable development because war is destruction.

“So after weeks of training in peace education, emotional intelligence, and alternative dispute resolution by the institute, one’s eye has been opened to the fact that, yes, peace and cause of peace is the path to follow.

“So, I tend to utilise the training to also bring other people to the table of peace and to know that there’s no alternative to it,” he said. On Nigeria’s poor performance at the recent Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympic Games, Dr. Odikpo said all hands must be on deck to design a road map that would see the country take her rightful position in the comity of sporting nations.
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