THE 14th edition of the NNPC/Shell Cup All Nigeria Secondary School Football Championship kicks off across the country on January 20 with state finals.The yearly tourney, which has produced some of Nigeria's stars, will have over 120,000 students participating in this year's competition.Speaking during a briefing to herald the commencement of the championship in Lagos yesterday, the Vice President, HSE and Corporate Affairs of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC), Tony Attah, said the company was poised to continue to support grassroots sports development in the country, which he believes will help the country regain its place in the world.'We are particularly challenged by several recent developments in Nigerian football and the accompanying call for the immediate intervention of stakeholders operating at secondary schools level,' he said.'We wish to commend President Goodluck Jonathan for his initiative at bringing about a re-generation within our sports development structure, especially as it concerns football at the secondary school level throughout the country.'He added: 'For 14 years, we have believed in and promoted football as an essential curricular activity within our secondary schools and this has created a platform for other initiatives to build upon.'We have recently been informed that in most states, the NNPC/Shell Cup state preliminaries in 2012 will also provide each state an opportunity to select the best players to eventually form their respective state football academicals teams.'In effect, the competition will give rise to the state academicals teams that will in turn compete at national level. For that reason, our competition has been timed to begin just before the national academicals competition kicks off across Nigeria.'According to him, screening of participants would be heightened to ensure that no non-student is allowed to participate in the championship. The winner of this year's champion, Attah said, would smile home with N3.5 million, while the runner-up would get N2 million while third and fourth places get N1 million each.Meanwhile, organiser of the championship, the Nigeria School Sports Federation (NSSF), has warned teams to resist the temptation of using mercenaries at this year's event. According to NSSF President, Ibrahim Mohammad, as part of the measures to curb cheating, the NSSF would partner Sports Network Initiative (SNI) in the registration and confirmation of biometrics of players.Mohammad, who was represented by the NSSF Secretary General, Olabisi Joseph, said that checking age cheats became necessary considering the problem currently bedeviling Nigerian football, which she said the body wants to nip in the bud.
Click here to read full news..
