Hammed Shittu in Ilorin
Piqued by the dwindling performances of the Kwara State owned team, Kwara United Football Club of Ilorin, the state’s House of Assembly, has directed its relevant standing committee to convene a stakeholders meeting with a view to restoring the club’s lost glory.
The committee has been give two weeks to report back to the House.
The House gave the directive in its Wednesday’s sitting following a motion on notice on “the Need to Revitalize Kwara United FC” sponsored by the member representing Isin Constituency, Hon Olumide Awolola and co-sponsored by Hon Abdulgafar Ayinla (Ilorin North West) and Hon Abdullahi Danbaba (Kaiama/Kemanji/Wajibe ).
The Speaker, Hon. Yakubu Danladi Salihu, while reading the resolutions of the House disclosed that the present precarious condition of the state’s darling team was worrisome and required the inputs of all the stakeholders in proffering enduring solutions.
The speaker while challenging his colleagues to sponsor football tournaments in their constituencies to discover hidden talents, stressed that youths need to be thoroughly engaged in the bid to revitalize the football club.
Hon. Awolola had while raising the motion recalled the glorious days of the team and identified injustice in recruitment of players and technical crew, indiscipline and non indigenisation of its players and coaches as factors that militated against Kwara United’s performance at the national league.
The co-sponsors of the motion called for the need to revive school sports and intra-state football competitions to discover hidden talents at the grassroots level to act as feeder team for United.
They also called for the involvement of ex-footballers from the state in the management of the club to restore its lost glory.
Other members who spoke on the motion, traced the causes of the poor performance of the football club to poor management, lack of sustainable funding template, corruption and advocated total overhaul of its management.
The Kwara lawmakers also want a per cent of the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) be earmarked for the club.
