As the 20th edition of the National School Sports Games commenced atPort Harcourt,RiversState on January 24, Imo was conspicuously missing from the attendance list.
Reports reaching Imo Trumpeta Sports desk does reveal that the state’s school sports contingent was unable to attend this year’s games in Port Harcourt due to lack of funds or what you may term a total neglect on the youths of Imo State in the sports sector. It would be recalled that this same paper on January 18, reported of an impending doom looming over the future athletes of the state as neither the Commissioner for Education Prof Adaobi Obasi or the Governor of the state, Owelle Rochas Okorocha hearkened to the plea of Imo children. Reports also revealed that proposals were written to the Governor and the Education Commissioner for approval of funds to enable the students and their schools attend the games but nothing came out of it. The implication of this total neglect is that Imo will not be able to recruit athletes adequately for the 2014 National Sports Festival in Calabar and in future. It also implies that more youths who are not academically sound but could have discovered their sporting potentials at the 20th National School Sports inPort Harcourt will now be exposed to all sorts of social vices therefore posing great danger to the society and their families. It is indeed a thing of worry that with all the abundance of talents Imo is blessed with, harnessing the talents has remained the bane of the state in actualizing its real potentials in sports. The state according to reports of from national body inAbuja indicates that a fine of 600, 000 Naira awaits the state when it returns in the next edition, 150,000 each for the four editions it has missed since 2009 whenOgunState hosted.
