NSC ENGAGES FCT GOLF ASSOCIATION FOR GRASSROOTS GOLF DEVELOPMENT
If National Sports Commission (NSC) chairman Mallam Shehu Dikko has his way, the longstanding belief that golf is an elitist sport will become a thing of the past. To this end, Dikko is engaging with FCT Golf Association.
At a meeting with the association’s chairman Akabom Enebong, the consensus was that there should be a conscious effort to take the sport to the grassroots.
“We have always had the impression that golf is for the rich and privileged, but there are talented kids out there who are not from wealthy homes and can’t afford the very expensive golf kits. There has to be a deliberate effort to harness these talents. We have to create that opportunity for them to also excell and realize their dreams”, Dikko said.
He continued, “We are having an engagement that should make golf less elitist. These kids may not be privileged to enter these elite golf clubs, but we can facilitate their increased participation in golf, then subsequently seek some form of sponsorship that should help finance their professional careers. Let’s not deceive ourselves, the golf kits are very expensive but we can access sponsorship to alleviate all that.”
With golf now an Olympic sport, the NSC helmsman is already thinking ahead.
His words, “Golf is now an Olympic sport. This is the time for us to start working on podium performances in the sport at the Olympics. The time to start is now and we have to take it to the grassroots so that we can have the necessary abundance. If we want to be top performers in the next two or three Olympics, we have to get to work now. Nigeria is blessed with so much talents. You just have to create the platforms to harvest them. I am fully in for this.”
A background to the engagement’s target can be drawn from the story of Aminu Baba, an executive member of Professional Golf Association of Nigeria (PGAN) who was in the delegation.
Baba was a ball boy at Kano Club, first in the tennis arm, before veering into the golf section.
He said, “The white men used to call us to pick balls and carry bags for them while they were playing. From there we got sponsors that enabled us to be groomed by the resident golf professional in Kano at the time, Emmanuel Lawrence.”
This spearheaded Baba’s professional career, and between 2003 and 2005, he was in the top 5 of the PGAN national ranking.
Enebong took it from here. “There are many Babas out there and they only need to be harvested. This meeting with NSC chairman should aid this. With this support, we should take golf down there to the people. We want to change this myth that it is a sport only for the rich. Baba was not from the richest of homes but he made a success of his professional career. But that is only one remote case. We want more of such stories. This is why we are evolving the Grow-with-golf program to help this grassroots drive”, he said.
They are already working the talk. “We are pushing for each area council in FCT to approve a land for a public golf course. If this sails through, we will have six public courses in FCT. This is the only way we can achieve this goal of taking golf to the grassroots”, Enebong added.
Highpoint of the meeting was the presentation of a complete golf kit to the NSC chairman.
Meanwhile, Dikko teed off the 6th BON Classics Amateur Charity Golf Tournament at the IBB International Golf and Country Club, Abuja where he reiterated the points raised above.
While appreciating Dikko for making out time from his tight schedule to grace the event, tournament organizer, Mrs Ngozi Bose Onwuegbu enthused that his tenure at the helms of Nigerian sports will usher in good tidings to Nigerian golf.
“One thing I have noted is that he is not just a football NSC chairman, but is very interested in developing the other sports as well. The enthusiasm he has shown to ensure that golf is developed to the grassroots has been very heartwarming. I am certain that we have found a true ally here. Together with him, we will grow this sport”, she said.
