LET me welcome you and thank you very much for visiting our State. I must say that you are very daring.' Those were the words of Kashim Shettima, ex-banker, ex-commissioner, and now Governor of Borno State to a 4-man delegation of the Nigeria Academicals Sports Committee (NASCOM) that visited him last week in the state's capital city that has been under siege in recent times. Every single person that we told about our intended visit to Maiduguri expressed shocking disapproval. What are you looking for in Maiduguri' Do you have to go there' Are you not afraid of bombs and bullets and the Boko Haram'Of course, we were afraid and clearly understood people's misgivings. Less than a year ago, many young new graduates from different parts of the country under-going their compulsory national youth service in the state had been killed in circumstances that left Nigerians aghast. Before and since then suicide bombings have taken place in different parts of the Maiduguri and many lives have been lost.Police stations, churches, mosques and even homes have been razed to the ground. Jails have been broken into and their prisoners (including hardened ones) released to revive their 'careers' in criminality! Even the mammy market that was once considered the safest place in the town because of its location in the vicinity of the military barracks was bombed and several people killed. Armed soldiers have taken over control of most of the city setting up check points and road blocks, and parading the streets in an effort to stem the tide of violence that had made the city a no-go area for most other Nigerians.Reports have described Maiduguri as a desolate place, a ghost town where no part was safe and no one, including the indigenes, was immune from these dastardly acts. Night life had been 'killed' and after sunset the city was taken over by soldiers. No foreign visitors came there anymore and businesses had been grounded. Even the Directorate of the National Youth Service did not feel safe enough to deploy any corpers to the State this year.The stories were truly frightening. It was into this climate of fear that we headed. To us in NASCOM it made absolute sense that Borno State was the state to pay our first and urgent visit. The state needed NASCOM's project more than most others. It was our intention, therefore, to kick-start our final consultations and sensitisation of the academicals programme, initiated at the directive of President Goodluck Jonathan to engage the youths in secondary schools (all 12 million of them and, hopefully, more) through sports, from Borno State!Sports And Education As weapons Of changeThe President's vision is to harness the power of sports to occupy all Nigerian secondary school students with competitions in various sports, and in the process revive the tradition of sports at that level with the co-lateral consequences of discovering the most talented amongst them to drive a new national sports development programme from the grassroots; to ensure good health and extended life expectancy for the youths; to drive higher enrolment into schools and retention in schools; to provide the students with information, counselling and guidance into the vastness of the national and global sports economy and other sports-related sectors; to utilise higher education opportunities through scholarships, international grants and aids; to introduce alternative entrepreneurial/technical skills programmes as well as leadership and citizenship training schemes; to inculcate the discipline and values of social inclusion, social interaction and integration amongst all Nigerian students irrespective of their status, religion, tribe, ethnicity, or creed; to inculcate the spirit of love for and service to country, and erect bridges across linguistic, cultural and traditional divides amongst students; to establish life-long friendships, and promote national peace and unity!This is a hugely ambitious programme that is to be driven by the power of sports and the passion of the people for them. The vehicle is sport and the platform is education! That means sports within schools. In short, the academicals! Mr. President got it right!Sport and education are a combination the youths can embrace with the right incentives. The first satisfies their passion and the second provides an essential need in life. Both will take them away from the shackles of illiteracy, poverty, hunger, disease, and unemployment. The North East zone of Nigeria is ravaged by all these and Borno State lies in the heart of the zone, a time-bomb with a lit fuse inching towards a blow up. That fuse is idleness, lack of skills, or religion, politics, hunger, and ethnic sentiments misdirected. Any of these, as the events in the State have now shown, could have ignited the fuse! Thats why urgent intervention is required to re-direct the energy of the youths, distract them from their previous deeds, and direct them to more beneficial and more rewarding ways. NASCOM comes into the picture.But first, the concept must be sold, accepted and implemented. That was our mission to Borno State - to let the government and people of the State see the picture of new possibilities in addressing the State's most challenging social problem through the instrumentality of small, inexpensive, practical and measurable items in our national life - sport and education!Sport and education can surely not be the only answer to the monumental social challenge that the matter of the youths now poses. The frustration of most state governments and even the federal government to deal effectively with it is very obvious all around us - the kidnappings, the robberies, the killings, the internecine conflicts, the bombings, are evidence enough, and are still hanging around our necks like the Ancient Mariner's Albatross.Sport and education can only be but a drop in the sea, but then'little drops an ocean make! Sport and education can make their own little contribution in dealing with this looming catastrophe. Football in particular has been a subtle, unappreciated and unexploited unifying force of all Nigerians. They love their football. They love the adrenaline that comes before major competitions, as well as the joyful celebrations that come with their teams winning. They love to win. When they do, everything else troubling them pales into insignificance, forgotten ( if only briefly) with enough time to cool tempers and agitations, and to allow patience and reason to prevail. Remember how the Nigerian Civil war was unofficially halted in 1968 just so that troops of both sides of the war could listen to the radio commentaries of the match involving Pele the World's greatest football player when his Brazilian club Santos FC of Sao Paolo visited Nigeria.The Rebirth of MaiduguriNo one should under-rate the power of sports when well constructed and utilised. That was the message we had for Borno State.So, we had to visit Maiduguri. Were we surprised when we entered the city' Surprise is an understatement. Maiduguri was alive and bubbling. The streets were jammed with humanity and traffic. There was not a single sign of desolation or danger. All shops were open. Jeans trousers and other western clothes freely mingled with babanriga and arabic turbans and veils.We had conversations with many people as we were driven round the city. Sure, there was palpable fear still, but the people were not willing to let fear cripple their lives and make those terrorising them to 'win'. To run away from their normal activities and the things they love is to hand victory to the 'enemy'. Our visit reinforced that conviction in their minds. If we could come why should they fear' At the various meetings we held muslim as well as christian prayers were offered openly. Even when we suggested that those who were uncomfortable with speaking in English (just in case it was considered haram) during our meeting at the Stadium could speak in the Hausa language, everyone spoke in English.We were four that went to Maiduguri and all of us were from the south of Nigeria - Ogun, Ondo, Imo and Ebonyi states! The welcome we received was warm, genuine and infectious, and on the one night that we spent there I slept like I had not done in a very long time - peacefully like a baby!The Borno State governor thanked us for the visit and urged us to report to the world what we saw and experienced.
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