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Oghomienor unveils academy on grassroots development

By Gbenga Akinfenwa
23 October 2016   |   3:44 am
Worried by the level of decadency in the society, coupled with the growing insecurity, a grassroots empowerment programme would soon take-off to transform children and homeless persons into role models in the society through football.

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Worried by the level of decadency in the society, coupled with the growing insecurity, a grassroots empowerment programme would soon take-off to transform children and homeless persons into role models in the society through football.

The programme, coming in form of an academy, would teach on areas of security and also empower them economically, to give them global ticket to reach the world.

Coming from the stable of Leslie Oghomienor, the Chief Executive Officer, Blaubrana Sport International, a philanthropist and indigene of Delta State, 1,000 students, cutting across the 36 states of the federation will be admitted into the academy to kick-start the programme.

“I was privileged to school in different parts of Nigeria, like Lagos, Enugu and Plateau States. That is why I tell people that I am a detribalised Nigeria.

My broadened exposure has put me above the level of tribal or ethnic pedestals, because of what I have seen in different tribes, I have taken one thing or the other that I found very useful, which forms what I am today. The motivation is more of a passion; it is bigger than ordinary motivation in the sense that I was opportune to have a very successful work life.

“I started my career working for oil and gas firm and later into oil service firm.

With the way God has blessed us, my friends and I started thinking of what we can do that can reach out to more people, and can transform lives. What we mean is move from the realm of doing business for business sake. What we are doing now is passion in developing and transformed people and also to give back to the society in such a way that it will trickle down to the common man on the street. We are looking at a situation where children are empowered to become breadwinners and start to solve problems from the grassroots level,” he said.

While noting that he decided to focus on the common people because nation building needs to start from the grassroots, he said; “the foundation of any country starts from the grassroots, and that is where you have these kids who also become the leaders of tomorrow that will change the way we live our lives.

“Aside helping people in different aspects of life to achieve their dreams, we focus majorly on football, money and value. Value, which is the biggest aspect of all of them, has to do with what you are transforming these children into. What they will become tomorrow, what values will they carried, what attitude will they carried towards life. After the football had gone, after the money had gone, people will not remember you for all those things except for your attitude, which determined your stamina and longevity in life.”

“The talent might be inborn or acquired, so we belief that we are going to hunt those kids and give them the right certificate so that they can go and build their career. They can manage their businesses and be responsible people in the society.

“Hopefully next year, we are going to start the academic session with about 1,000 participants between the ages of five to eight years, and it will comprise both male and female. It is not my dream, it is their dream and my dream is to help them achieved their dream.

“Registration is ongoing, they will be screened, the last screening was on October 17, and when they make it, they get provisional admission to the school and become students of the school.”

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