On Friday, top African footballers including Finidi George, Kanu Nwankwo, Victor Ikpeba, El Hadji Diouf, Diomansy Kamara, and Didier Zokora paid Governor Akinwunmi Ambode a courtesy visit ahead of the Governor’s testimonial match on Saturday.
Khalilou Fadiga, Austin Eguavoen, Mutiu Adepoju, Waidi Akanni, Uche Okechukwu, and Seydou Keita were others who also made the trip.
Mr Ambode, while receiving the ex-football stars, urged African countries to look inward and explore the possibility of using sports to grow their economies. Sports remains a true tool to promote growth and development, he said.
The outgoing governor said the sense of fraternity in sports must be played up for the continent’s advantages in scaling up African countries ‘ Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“We’ve always used sports to build bridges and there’s that sense of brotherhood whenever you switch on your television and there’s an African playing on any line-up, be it Liverpool, be it Tottenham, that feeling is always there and that brotherhood is something we can use to grow African nations ‘ economies,” he said.
“When I came in as governor, I had this dream that I could use sports, tourism, entertainment and arts to promote excellence with some sense of hospitality. So, I had something called Project T.H.E.S.E and my dream was to catalyze everything around sport and use it to build tourism and grow Lagos ‘ GDP as well.
“That was the dream and why we promoted as many sporting activities as possible so that we could create a tourism platform that made many people travel here and just as you’ve come here now, you’re going to stay in our hotels and the hotels would pay taxes at the end of the day and then we’re using it to do the infrastructure we’re doing.”
Although four years may not be enough to do a lot, he remained grateful to God for the opportunity to serve the people, just as he expressed optimism that it would be taken up by the next administration, improve it, and ensure that the dream and vision for sport development never die.
“I’m very honored that you’re all here in Lagos to celebrate with me as I finish my Lagos State tenure,” said Mr. Ambode.
“This match is not for me alone, but for mankind’s good. We are not promoting it because we want to make money out of it, but in fact we are showing that there is still something to be done about the development of sports in Africa and then in Nigeria in particular.
“We’ve lost a lot of resources and economic growth because people can’t match sport with the economy, and that’s the gap we’ve got here. I mean, the question is why should I go to Madrid to watch La Liga while I’m paying for the airline, paying for a hotel and growing Spain’s economy?
Mr Ambode said that after leaving office, he might consider venturing into sport development, so he might use his intellect to find a way to match sport with the economy.
“We have to understand that Nigeria’s future is actually in the service industry – in sports, in creative arts, in innovative things where people can use their talents to earn income, and I pray that one day we will have sporting companies that will be on the stock exchange.”
Speaking on behalf of the soccer players, Diouf thanked Governor Ambode for inviting them to Lagos and promised an exciting show on Saturday during the game.
