Pinnick says secondary school football crucial to discovering budding talents

Mr. Amaju Pinnick, FIFA Executive Council Member and former Chairman, Nigerian Football Federation (NFF), has emphasised the need to strengthen football in secondary schools to give more opportunities to budding talents.

According to him, more attention to secondary school football will boost sports in rural areas and shore up infrastructural growth that will, in turn, enhance the quality of education nationwide.

Pinnick spoke in Lagos on Monday when he received the Technical Board of Kalidon Ventures Limited.

Kalidon Ventures has just signed a 10-year lease agreement with the University of Lagos to build a modern Astro turf facility.

Astro turf is a type of artificial fibre that is used instead of grass on some sports fields.

The Lagos University facility is expected to come with a state-of-the-art lounge, game arcades, and a multi-dimensional viewing system.

Pinnick said that the ongoing football construction works at Hussey College in Warri would serve as a model for how developed football programmes in secondary schools could produce soccer stars for local and international leagues.

The Warri project is being undertaken by the former NFF boss.

“When football facilities are developed, they could bring much-needed extra revenue to fund the schools.

“They could also impact infrastructure and engender very credible technical partnerships between the schools and well-regarded international stakeholders,” he added.

Pinnick, generally regarded as an influential international football administrator, commended the Kalidon Venture Technical Team’s decision to build world-class Astro turfs that would serve the football community.

The football administrator agreed to work for the firm in an advisory capacity.

Earlier, Mr. Omotayo Oyewome, Managing Director, Kalidon Ventures, had told Pinnick that the Lagos facility would be the pilot one as plans had already reached advanced stages to expand very rapidly into the six geographical centres of the country.

He listed the benefiting states to include Lagos, Ogun, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Abuja, and Kaduna.

Already, the front-line investment banking franchises Hamilton and George have been appointed as financial advisers for the project, he stated.

Other Kalidon Ventures directors on the visit were Oyewole Olaoluwa Ajayi, Oluwaseyi Atinaro, and Joseph Edgar.