By Raymond Nwaduba
President of Nigeria Amputee Football Federation, Paul Maduakor has revealed the laudable plans to reposition the federation for greater effectiveness and more exploits as far as Amputee football is concerned, whether locally, continentally or globally by the current board.
Gatekeepers News reports that Maduakor, while speaking exclusively to our correspondent, after one of the Fusion Football Championship games between Smart City FC and Divine Praise FC, played on Easter Sunday, at the Legacy Pitch in Surulere, Lagos, was explicitly confident that their well- thought-out roadmap will deliver for the federation and Nigeria at large as a country.
According to the Sportswear and Equipments mogul or merchant, their major and primary focus now is to get more people to know about the sport. This is because even many amputee people themselves don’t even know about it and that they can partake in it.
“We want to channel a lot of energy in creating awareness, sensitizing people about the sport so that more people will get to know about it.
“Surprisingly, even many of the amputee themselves don’t know about the sport and that they can partake in it.
To this end he said: “We want to embark on community outreaches, play some exhibition matches in various localities, schools and getting down to the grassroots to encourage more amputees that they can do it.
However, why speaking on other plans the federation have, Maduakor had this to say:”We want to organize our National Championship by bringing the best players from the 6 geo- political zones to play, for us to be able to select the best next crop of national team players for Nigeria for our up coming continental and international engagements.
“There is the Para Games coming up in Ghana and the Africa Nations Cup in Egypt. There are also international friendly matches that we have lined up for the team, which is why we are organizing the national championship to discover new talents.
The Amputee Football Federation boss, however bemoaned the issue of lack of funding as majorly the constraint bedeviling the federation.
“Our major challenge is lack of funding, which is why we keep trying if we can get sponsors.
“But as the president I have the obligation to deliver for the players whether sponsors or no sponsors.
“Actually I’m the one sponsoring the competition, but you know what that means. But if we have external sponsors, it means more remuneration for the players and contingents that will participate.
He used the opportunity to call on the corporate world, organizations and philanthropists to assist them.
“We are calling on the corporate world, organizations, philanthropists to come to our aid by supporting us in whichever way they can, either in cash or in kind using their products”, he concluded.
The championship will involve 6 teams from the 6 geo- political zones and it will begin May 4 to May 6, 2023.
