Odikpo advocates sports for peace, social devt

Renowned sports commentator, Dr. Emeka Odikpo, has urged the country’s political leaders to lead in the fight against violence using sports as the instrument.

“As a certified sports conflict mediator, I intend to play a big role, especially in Nigerian football because football has gone beyond recreation to big business.”
 
Dr. Odikpo, who retired as a Zonal Director at the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), described his award as a wake-up call for him to contribute his quota to ensuring a peaceful society.

 “The world needs peace. There is war all over the world: Israel in Gaza, Ukraine – Russia, and the entire Southern Sudan and Somalia, as well as the bandits and Boko Haram,” he said.

“When you look at the cost of war you will know that it is cheaper to embrace peace. If there is no sustainable peace, there will be no sustainable development because war is destruction.

“So after weeks of training in peace education, emotional intelligence, and alternative dispute resolution by the institute, one’s eye has been opened to the fact that, yes, peace and cause of peace is the path to follow.

“So, I tend to utilise the training to also bring other people to the table of peace and to know that there’s no alternative to it,” he said. On Nigeria’s poor performance at the recent Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympic Games, Dr. Odikpo said all hands must be on deck to design a road map that would see the country take her rightful position in the comity of sporting nations.

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