AFFAN President Harps On Discovery Of Female Athletes In Nigeria

Posted by Eric Ojo African News, Featured, Latest Headlines, Sports News Tuesday, August 31st, 2021

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – President of the Association of Former Female Athletes in Nigeria (AFFAN), Dr. Esther Oluwatoyin Aluko has reiterated the need for state chapters of the association to consistently work towards discovering and nurturing female athletes across the country.

The AFFAN president made the observation in Abeokuta during the inauguration ceremony of Ogun State Chapter of the association on Thursday.

The inauguration which was celebrated with female secondary school basketball games, had Dr. Gloria Obajimi, an Olympian and AFFAN Zonal Coordinator in attendance as the Guest Speaker, who on behalf of the association inaugurated the additional new Chapter.

The event was well attended by former female athletes that represented Nigeria and Ogun State in various sports in the seventies, eighties, and nineties. Moreover, they all gathered together to offer their selfless services and accumulated sport experiences to encourage female athletes sport participation and support sport development in Ogun State.

Dr. Aluko, who is also the Coordinator of Nigeria Olympic Academy, urged the newly inaugurated Ogun State Chapter and the already existing States Chapters not to relent in their efforts to continue with the organisation of sport programmes in the nooks and crannies of their states that will help to discover, educate, empower, mentor and protect the potential female athletes with the aim of producing total athletes that excel in sports and education.

She said the vision of AFFAN is to positively transform the lives of girls, families and communities, using sport as a platform to reach out to the unreached and the vulnerable in order to discover, mentor and protect potential female athletes through AFFAN sport events, activities and programmes.

“To achieve this vision, AFFAN at her official inauguration in February 2019 encouraged the former female athletes residing in all the states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to establish AFFAN Chapters in their various states of abode so as to serve as role models to the potential athletes and their parents.

“The visible presence of the former female athletes has gone a long way in encouraging parents to release their girls for sport activities and at the same time encouraged the young girls to develop interest in active sport participation”, she said.

According to her, it is in line with the vision of AFFAN that the Ogun State Chapter of the association was inaugurated to join the league of already existing State Chapters.

Other prominent sports personalities who graced the event include, Ogun State AFFAN Coordinator and Chief Host, Dr. Bolatito Adeniji, the Director of Sports Ogun State Sports Council, Mrs Iyabode Rotimi, Chief (Mrs) Falilat Ogunkoya Omotayo (MON), the Matron, Mrs Moyosore Olowonmi, and a host of many others.