Renowned Nigerian sports philanthropist and Athletics Federation of Nigeria board member, Ahmed Isa Kaita, has stated that once the corona virus pandemic is over, the federation would organize marathon races in Abuja, Katsina, and other parts of Nigeria. Kaita who succeeded Solomon Ogba in the AFN board after the latter resigned went further to state that activities lined up by the AFN were being disrupted by COVID-19, but is confident that the federation would recover lost programmes once the country is cleared of corona virus cases.
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Prior the outbreak of the dread virus in Nigeria which was also behind the postponement of the 2020 National Sports festival in Edo, Kaita had planned to serve as the sponsor of the Abuja National Relay Championship which was initially scheduled to hold this April.
We had plans to take marathon races to the North and organise it for Nigeria runners only with attractive price money. All that will come up as soon as Nigeria is declared free of coronavirus. We are planning to run a zonal competition in the North that will include states like Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina, Jigawa, Kaduna and Kano
Ahmed Isa Kaita
Kaita, who is from Katsina state, Northern Nigeria, is notable for organizing and sponsoring athletics events in his state. Scholarships awards and financial empowerment for high performing athletes are some of the ways Kaita has made use of sports as a tool to positively impact and empower youth with sports talents.
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I live among these talented youth and since sports have a way of taking talented youth off the street, I decided to organise sports activities within and outside Katsina and today, most of the youths are happy to have made something meaningful through their talents. About 30 of them are on scholarships in various institutions in Nigeria.
Kaita
Source
Guardian.ng
Featured image source: Tropic Reporters
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