By Jude Opara, Abuja
The Senator representing Cross River North, Jarigbe Agon Jarigbe has stated that his investment in sports development in his Senatorial District is not for a political statement or financial gain but due to a genuine quest to contribute to the development of the young talents and improve their welfare.
Senator Jaribe who spoke through his Special Adviser, Legal and Public Affair, First Baba Isa, noted that sports is a lucrative industry and channel that can be harnessed for the upliftment of the youths in the society.
According to him, what motivated him to give back to his people using sports is what made him go into the public sector to serve his people and improve their welfare.
“What motivated the distinguished Senator in giving back to his people in the area of sports is what made him to generally go into the public sector, being a House of Representatives member and later becoming a senator, is to serve the people and improve their welfare.
“Sports all over the world is an avenue that helps every leader to easily better and improve the wellbeing of his people. It is a sector that one can easily go into to empower his people.
“Sports is a lucrative industry and channel for harnessing youthful energy, medium for unity, community development and hurting their talents toward building multi-million dollar careers as sports persons,” Jaribe said.
The philanthropist, while calling on politicians like him to invest in sports development, even if it means making a political statement with it, assured of his readiness to rally his colleagues in the National Assembly to ensure adequate budgetary provision for sports development in the country.
“What the senator is doing is a sincere development of sports and not for a political statement. But he is a politician like every other politician and if our politicians can make a political statements with real live sports development as Senator Jarigbe is doing in his constituency, I don’t see a problem with that.
“If it is a political gimmick, the Mini-sports-stadium he built is there for all to see, the recreation center is there and his personal individual contributions to young sports men and women in his constituency are all there for everyone to see, but if you say it is a political statement, then we want our politicians to make such a political statement because it is worthy of emulation”.
Jarigbe in reaction to his nomination as the best performing Senator in sports development by the Nigerian Sports Merit Award, said the recognition will spur him to even do more for his people.
