Samuel Oguche, an ex-international basketball player and founder of the Samuel Oguche Basketball Foundation, says everything is set to host one of the largest basketball camps to empower youths at the grassroots level in December.
On Wednesday in Abuja, Oguche, a leading basketball youth development expert, confirmed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
He stated that the foundation would collaborate with the Gov. Yahaya Bello Basketball Youth Empowerment (GYBBYE) to reach out to over 1,000 youths from across the country from December 15 to December 18 in Kogi.
“The Kogi basketball camp is primarily intended to empower our teeming youths at the grassroots level, and to that end, we decided to hold this vital camp in Confluence City.”
“We will be working with many of our friends and sponsors to invite a couple of teams from Abuja, Lagos, and other parts of the country so that people can come together for the three-day tournament and kids’ camp.”
“The project, which is not limited to a single region of the country, is intended to mentor children and keep young people off the streets.”
“We’ve taken our camps to all of the country’s geopolitical zones, and we expect kids from Kogi and its environs to participate,” he said.
Gov. Yahaya Bello, according to Oguche, is using basketball to get kids off the streets, and the governor recently renovated and commissioned a basketball court in the state ahead of the event.
“The project, which is meant to mentor children, is our own small way of giving back to society, and we are pleased that Governor Bello believes in it.”
“The governor’s wife, Hajia Rashida Bello, has also thrown her support behind the much-anticipated GYB youth empowerment basketball tournament, which will be held in Lokoja.”
“She inaugurated a newly renovated basketball court at the Federal University of Technology, Lokoja, over the weekend, which is slated to host the GYB Youth Empowerment Competition,” he stated.
“She also hinted that a popular energy drink will be supporting the upcoming basketball camp in Kogi state.”
“Bullet Energy drinks will help us do this, and they have always been a worthy partner,” she said.
Mr Igoche Mark, Chairman of the Mark Mentors Basketball team in Abuja and one of the program’s sponsors, expressed his excitement to be a part of what the Samuel Oguche Basketball Foundation was doing in the country.
He stated that he was very passionate about grassroots development as well as youth empowerment, and that the foundation’s good work was worth supporting.
Mark, who is also running for a ticket to represent the North Central Zone on the new board of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF), emphasized the importance of grassroots basketball development.
“I’d like to focus on developing basketball at the grassroots level because I believe in catching them when they’re young.”
“I also believe that once we have enough basketball courts in the country, more young people will become interested in the game.”
“So, this is my passion, and it is what has kept driving me to support any program like the one put together by the Samuel Oguche foundation,” he explained.