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 By Emeka Chiaghanam

Freshly confirmed Commissioner for Youth Development and Sports in Anambra State, Mr Patrick Agha Mba, has pledged to deepen youth empowerment, create more opportunities for young people and rebuild sports from the grassroots across the state.

Mr Mba spoke at the Anambra State House of Assembly in Awka shortly after lawmakers confirmed him and other commissioner nominees appointed by Governor Chukwuma Soludo.

The newly confirmed commissioner said the state government would consolidate on the achievements already recorded during Governor Soludo’s first term, especially in the area of youth empowerment and job creation.

According to him, the administration remains focused on its target of producing thousands of successful young entrepreneurs and making youths more productive through practical and innovative programmes.

“Youth empowerment must move beyond the old pattern of sharing items and temporary support,” he said. “What we are doing is redefining empowerment into something productive, innovative and impactful that can truly change lives.”

Mr Mba said the government’s vision was to continue creating “young millionaires” through skill development, enterprise support and employment opportunities capable of transforming the economy of the state.

He noted that Governor Soludo’s wider objective was to position Anambra as a leading centre of economic growth and opportunity in Nigeria.

The commissioner also spoke extensively on the addition of sports to his ministry, following the restructuring of the sector by the state government.

He praised the immediate past leadership of the sports sector for laying a strong foundation and promised to build on the progress already made.

“I must appreciate those who handled sports before now because they did a lot of work,” he said. “What we are going to do is to improve on what already exists and take sports to another level.”

Mr Mba said his ministry planned to transform sports from being viewed mainly as entertainment into a serious tool for economic growth, talent development and capacity building.

He explained that the government intended to establish stronger structures for sports development at the grassroots level, beginning from the local government areas.

According to him, one of the major challenges facing sports development in Anambra has been the absence of organised local structures capable of identifying and nurturing talents from communities.

He said the state could no longer rely solely on officials operating from Awka to discover sporting talents across the 21 local government areas.

“Sports is a grassroots activity,” he said. “We need structures at the local level where talents can be identified, registered and developed properly.”

To address this, Mr Mba disclosed plans to create Departments of Youth and Sports in local government councils across the state.

He explained that the arrangement would place sports administration alongside existing departments such as health, agriculture, education and works within the councils.

According to him, giving local councils direct ownership of youth and sports programmes would strengthen participation and help create a sustainable system for discovering talents early.

He also revealed plans to establish sports academies and professional development programmes that would align Anambra with international standards.

“We want to make sports a professional venture,” he said. “We have the talents and the human resources. What we need is the right structure and proper coordination.”

Mr Mba added that the state government would pursue partnerships with private investors and sponsors under a Public-Private-Community Partnership model to support the expansion of sports facilities and programmes.

He stressed that government alone could not fund the entire vision and that collaboration with corporate organisations and development partners would be necessary to move the sector forward.

The commissioner further assured that his ministry would work closely with existing technical teams and stakeholders in the sports sector to ensure continuity and stability.

He expressed confidence that integrating youth and sports programmes into local government administration would open new opportunities for young people and help Anambra compete favourably at national and international levels.