BY ANDRE D BISYIT
IN its effort to discover untapped talents in the country, MTN Nigeria has organized a talent hunt tagged MTN CHAMPS season 2 which kicked off yesterday at the New Jos Stadium.
Emamoke Ogoro, General Manager, MTN Brand and Communication, explained that the vision was initiated in order to catch the athletes young and nurture them in order to represent the country in international tournaments.
She said those participants were between the ages of fourteen and seventeen out of whom a few would be selected to participate in the finals in Calabar.
Ogoro disclosed that MTN had been sponsoring sporting activities for the past two decades in the country.
“MTN have been sponsoring sporting activities in the country, we are part of the NFF and support the Super Eagles and many other teams,” she said.
She added that because about 70 per cent of Nigeria’s population was below twenty, engaging them positively was key to national development.
She noted that MTN’s vision was to put Nigeria on the global map and that, with government support, they would achieve that.
Plateau State Commissioner for Youth and Sports Development, Bashir Lawandi Dati, through the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, assured of government’s readiness to partner with any organization that meant well for the state and its citizens, saying that initiatives like this would go a long way in taking the youth off the streets.
He said that, as a ministry, their responsibility was to coordinate, monitor and plan all the activities of youth and develop sporting activities in the state.
Rita Mosunde, Secretary General, Athletics Federation of Nigeria, commended MTN’s vision of propagating sporting activities and pleaded that the venues of the tournament make it more accessible to the youth of all geographical zones of the country.
