Governor  Godwin Obaseki of Edo has charged the State Sports Commission Board to tap into funding from the private sector to develop infrastructure and drive sporting activities.

He called for total reform and transparency in the administration of sports associations, this, he said was only achievable through private capital.

“Private capital is fundamentally different from the way government capital behaves. There is a high level of transparency because anybody who puts money down wants to see where that money is going to and how that money is being spent,” he said.

He added, “This is because if they don’t see it you can’t attract more. So, we can’t run the associations the way we used to.”

The governor also called on the board to develop 10,000 athletes in different fields of sports in the next five years.

“We have to catch them in schools and those outside schools. Success to me will be when we have more than 10,000 Edo sports people,” Mr Obaseki said while inaugurating the Yusuf Alli-led Sports Commission on Saturday in Benin.

He admonished the commission to pursue policies that would ensure the dominance of the state in the entire country in terms of the development and training of athletes.

“People need to prepare for the global market, why can’t we start now?

“We just have to catch them young whether it is in swimming, tennis, basketball, table tennis, handball or football.

“We should be able to say in five years’ time we have trained between 10,000 to 20,000 and if 1,000 of those become global stars, see what that would do for us,” he stated.

(NAN)