Former national tennis star, Godwin Kienka, has said that the Sports Performance Reward Fund (SPRF) would reduce the growing rate at which Nigerian youths leave the country for greener pastures abroad.
He also said that the fund would bring more youths into the sports sector.
In recent years, many youths, who see no future in the country, have opted to relocate abroad in what has been described as ‘japa syndrome.’
Speaking at the weekend in Lagos, Kienka, who is the SPRF’s executive secretary and author of a book, Sports in Nigeria – Going Round in Circles, said, “the two sure routes of going from rags to riches, from ghetto or slum to a Miami beach house, Banana Island or elite estates are music and sports. This is a global phenomenon, and we are sure that the SPRF will give Nigerian youth, who have tremendous sporting talent and are determined as well as hard working, a sure route to create wealth for themselves and the country.”
According to Kienka: “Examples abound all over the world. The Williams sisters from the drug and crime infested Compton town in California, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield and Anthony Joshua in boxing, Michael Jordan, Lebron James and Hakeem Olajuwon in basketball and Lionel Messi, Bukayo Saka, Mikel Obi and Victor Osimhen in football, as well as Usain Bolt and Carl Lewis in athletes, have all become rich and famous through sports.
“These young men and women are leaving Nigeria with the hope of finding jobs that will secure their future. The SPRF with its sure reward will give them that hope and assurance that if they have the talent and put in the hard work and sacrifice, they can translate from “rags to riches.”
The SPRF, he said, is targeting to raise an initial N10 billion at a fund-raising dinner in February that will go strictly to rewarding sportsmen and women, who win medals or finish on the podium at the Olympics, Commonwealth, Africa Games and major World Championships.
“The SPRF has a board of trustees made up of high successful men and women of impeccable integrity and there is no wiggle room for favouritism or nepotism as rewards are strictly based on performance and the fund will be there for generations of Nigerian youth,” Kienka added.
The SPRF has earmarked for the Olympics, N10 million for gold, N7.5 million for silver and N5 million for bronze. Commonwealth Games winners will receive N5 million for gold, N3 million for silver and N2 million for bronze, while Africa Games’ winners and World Championships’ winners will get N3 million for gold, N2 million for silver and N1 million for bronze.
The SPRF has as president, Ahmadu Musa Kida, a former deputy managing director of Totalenergies Nigeria and presently a nonexecutive director of the conglomerate; a former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of State for Petroleum, Odein Ajumogobia, is Vice President (National and Government); a world acclaimed Neurosurgeon, Professor Wale Sulaiman, is Vice President (Diaspora); while Ifueko Okauro is Vice President, Finance.
Other members of the board are Kanu Nwankwo, Chioma Ajunwa, a renowned America-trained Cardiologist, Dr Godfrey Achilihu; Joe Kyaagba, an architect; Yusuf Datti, a financial consultant; and Patricia Sulaiman, an associate professor, who is deputy executive secretary.
