, Maj.-Gen. Muhammad Fadah, says the NYSC Sports and Cultural Festival has indeed been helping to promote national un){kind=link}
The Director-General, National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Maj.-Gen. Muhammad Fadah, says the NYSC Sports and Cultural Festival has indeed been helping to promote national unity and integration.
Fadah, while speaking on Wednesday in Abuja at the festival’s closing ceremony, said he was very excited that the Corps members who participated in the competition met all expectations.
“The NYSC is for national unity and national integration, and this sports festival is facilitating the unity and integration of Nigeria.”
He commended Corps members who participated in the 2022 edition of the festival for their spirit of sportsmanship.
“Everybody is happy when in Nigeria somebody will play for Yobe when ordinarily he is not an indigene of Yobe, but because he is serving in Yobe he feels like he is from Yobe.
“So also, a Yobe man will play for Akwa Ibom and he feels like he prefers Akwa Ibom because that is his place of primary assignment and he feels like he is from Akwa Ibom.
“Therefore, the national unity and the integration is there and we have achieved it.
“The spirit of sportsmanship is there with them (the Corps members), and the healthy rivalry. Everybody wants to be a champion, but they are doing it in a very healthy way, which I like so much,” Fadah said.
The NYSC D-G said the Corps members’ performance in the various games was indicative of their great potentials, adding that he was sure that some of them could make successful careers in sports.
Speaking also, the Director, Community Development Service (CDS) and Special Projects, Abdulrazak Salawu, said the competition’s fundamental objective was to develop and promote the spirit of sportsmanship, teamwork and co-existence.
These, he said, were are all important to the unity and integration of all Nigerians.
“At the end of this exercise, I have no doubt that those in the mould of Daniel Amokachi, Austin Okocha, Nwankwo Kanu, Tobi Amusan, Ese Brume and so on would have been discovered.”
The festival featured football, volleyball, track and field events.
The football match which marked the end of the festival had Akwa Ibom beating Taraba 4-3 after a penalty kicks shootout, while Plateau won the third-place match.
Recalls that the festival has “Sustaining the Gains of Sports Development and Socio-Cultural Integration through Conscious Exploration and Promotion of Skills and Talents of the Youth” as its theme.(NAN)