By Roland Ike, Abakaliki
A Consultant to the African Union on Sports, Jacob Onu says that he has concluded arrangements to float a football academy, as his contribution to reviving school sports in Ebonyi State.
Onu made the disclosure during the unveiling of a football competition in honour of Dr Pius Okoh, late Proprietor of Holy Ghost College, Abakalliki.
Onu, member of the Presidential Committe on Academicals, said that corporate organisations had identified with the initiative which would harness the potentialities of budding football talents.
“This is part of initiatives to revive school sports in the state and make individuals and corporate organisations invest in the sector.
“The Dr P.C Okoh football competition is a pilot scheme of the initiative, to rekindle grassroots oriented-football policy in the state.
He described the late Okoh as an astute administrator who moulded many youths, combining academics and sports to achieve their life ambitions.
The Initiator of the Football Competition, Dickson Chukwu, said the annual event would involve privately-owned schools only at the initial stage.
“It is scheduled to commence in September this year, and the number of registered schools will determine the overall participants.
“It will be staged across three schools in Abakaliki and we would involve public schools in future.
Chukwu described the late Okoh as a mentor who was the first proprietor of a female football club in the old Anambra.
“We want to use this competition to immortalize him as a foremost sports administrator and academician in the state and country.
Mrs Grace Okoh, Wife of the the late administrator appreciated the organizers for remembering said her husband’s immense contribution to education and sports.
“He invested massively in the lives of people educationally and in sports as being attested presently.
