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Nigeria would host the maiden edition of the West African Public Service Games (WAPSGA), the ECOWAS Commission has said.
Commissioner for Social Affairs and Gender, Ms Fatimata Sow said this at a two-day meeting of the Coordinating Committee of the WAPSGA in Abuja on Thursday.
“Nigeria has been selected to host the first edition of the games.
“This gives us hope as the country which has developed the games will guide the process to its logical conclusion.’’
Sow was represented by the Director, ECOWAS Youth and Sports Development Centre, Mr Francis Njoaguani.
She said that the hosting of the games would “expand the scope of employment for the teeming youth of the region’’.
She urged all member states yet to establish their National Federations of WAPSGA to do so without further delay.
She added that the national federations would be the “pillars on which the WAPSGA will flourish’’.
The Head of Division, Youth, Sports and Employment, Mr Kennedy Barsisa recalled that the planning for the games started in 2007.
Barsisa said “by 2017, we will have the first edition of the WAPSGA’’.
Also, the Director, Gender, Youth Civil Society, Employment and Drug Control, Dr Sintiki Tarfa Ugbe said the games would promote sub-regional cooperation.
Tarfa was represented by Mr Daniel Akwasi Amankwaah, a Principal Programme Officer in the commission.
He reiterated the importance of sports in the society and added that it would also enhance integration in the West African region.
“Regardless of age, gender, and ethnicity, sports is enjoyed by all, its reach is unrivalled.
“The West African Public Service Games is a practical step to provide a platform for public servants to interact, share and exchange social and cultural values, thereby enhancing the regional integration agenda of ECOWAS.
“This is in conformity with the ECOWAS Vision 2020, which seeks to navigate from ECOWAS of States to an ECOWAS of people’’, he said.
The Chairman of the committee and First Secretary of Liberian Embassy, Mr Daniel Rogers, noted that promoting sports in the sub-region was also in line with the UN resolution on sports.
“You will recall that the United Nations in 2003 adopted a resolution to emphasise the role of sports as a means to promote education, health, development and peace.
“These are all essential ingredients in regional integration’’, he said.