By Edwin Philip
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Capital Territory Ministry of Youth and Sport Development, Mrs Nancy Sabanti Nathan, has said that Baseball in Nigeria has been domant and only known by few people, until recently that the current president of Nigeria Baseball, Soft ball and Little League Association, (NBSA) Engr. Uche Odozor came on board.
She made this known to reporters shortly after a familiarisation visit to the NBSA President in his office over the weekend, stating that the visit has accord her with a first hand information on how baseball will be revolutionised in Nigeria.
“So we felt it is necessary to come and have a discussion how we will promote baseball among our youth in schools and every other places that the sport needs to get to, we need to have alternative to football, we are all in love with football but this is another game that we need to promote it so that Nigerians have an alternative” she said.
The Permanent Secretary added that, as a secretariat their responsibility is to promote all kinds of sport that will give Nigeria a good image, saying that baseball as an international game has the ability to expose Nigerian children and youths so they can compete favourable with their counterpart in other nations of the world.
According to her, baseball just like every other sport have the capacity to take children off the street because it something that requires dedication and paying attention, as such they will not have time to be doing all kinds of vices in the streets.
“It is something that you have to concentrate you have to plan, so you will not have the time to go into vices in the streets, so it will take them definitely off the street and off vices, because there are rules also governing the game” she added.
She however said baseball has the ability of improving the mental capacity children, help them develop their physical capacities and teach them how to be focus on what they want to do in life.
She also revealed to parents that apart from just playing baseball, that there is also an economic value when they have been signed into various clubs and will be payed just as it is been done in football.
Speaking on the development around baseball in recently, she said, the NBSA President, Uche Odozor, is very enthusiastic about the game, being a player and very passionate about the game, ensuring that not only private schools but all the young people in FCT came to play an alternative game which is baseball.
According to her, the NBSA president is capable and the secretariat know that he will take baseball to another level during tenure.
Earlier at the baseball park, the Saturday baseball clinic which began about a month ago featured an intensive training and baseball drills led by the NBSA President.