Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City
The Deputy Governor of Edo, Philip Shaibu has said that sports, especially football, would be used to boost the economy of the State.
The Edo deputy governor stated this after fielding questions from journalists who watched him train with Insurance Football Club of Benin at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin City, yesterday.
He pledged that like every other sector of the economy, the Godwin Obaseki-led government would tackle the issue of sports, especially football, business like in order to bring back the lost glory of the state in sporting activities.
Shaibu bemoaned the fact that once the darling club of the region, Insurance FC has remained in the lower division of Nigeria league for several years.
He said this account for the reason why the government is doing everything humanly possible to ensure the club secure promotion to the elite division at the end current league season.
Noting that the club has the right players to gain promotion, the deputy governor, attributed the fact that not winning away matches has remained the club’s greatest challenge.
According to him, “We have very good players but we need to have more concentration for us to be winning our away matches. To me, if we can be winning some of our away matches, then securing promotion will not be far from us.
“As a government, we have given the team all that is needed for them to gain promotion and we will continue to do so even after.
“We are also working to see that Insurance do well in FA Cup this year to enable us go continental next season. We are doing all this because we know that sport, especially football is capable of contributing a great deal to economy of a state.â€
On the reason why he always joined the club for training, Shaibu said it was aimed at serving as moral booster for the players and the coaching crew of the club.
