Lawmaker wants youth fund channeled to sports development

• Lauds Buhari, Dare on initiative
A member of the House of Representatives, Muda Lawal Umar, APC, of Toro Federal Constituency, Bauchi State, has urged the Federal Government to deploy the Nigerian Youth Investment Fund for sports development and promotion.

Umar believes the teeming population of the youths in the country would be gainfully engaged if such fund were channeled towards sporting activities.

The lawmaker, who recalled his motion on March 19, 2020, which sought the declaration of a state of emergency on youth development in Nigeria, stressed the need to address the socio-economic factors bedeviling youths, saying it is at the root of the insecurity and other social vices in the country.

He commended President Muhammadu Buhari and the Minister of Sports and Youth Development, Sunday Dare, on the establishment of the Nigerian Youth Investment Fund.

He said: “Our youths need jobs, they need to be empowered with various skills to be able to fit into this modern age. This is why we need to invest such money in sporting activities too. We will end up with the Messis, Rinaldos and Osimens of this world and several other award-winning athletes in years to come. 

“I advise we take a little of such fund and channel it in that direction. It will be helpful I am sure. It will take away our youths from cultism, banditry, thuggery and all sorts of vices. As they saying goes, the idle mind is the devil’s workshop. 

“The establishment of the Youth Investment Fund by Mr. President is a huge step in the right direction.

The major constraint of the youths in Nigeria is unemployment and unavailability of funds to start up private businesses; and so the Nigerian Youth Investment Fund goes a long way to show that the president is sensitive to the plights of the youths in Nigeria and is willing to address them.”

He argued that no meaningful economic development could be achieved in any given society if various economic factors militating against the youths were not addressed.