Mercy International Mission, a Non-Governmental Organisation has organised a sports’ competition for over 124 indigent children from five towns in Ido/Osi Local Government of Ekiti State.
The Administrative Head of the NGO, Mr. Olaposi Olayinka, disclosed this to newsmen in Ado-Ekiti on Monday.
Olayinka said that the aim was to develop the children’s skills in sports, particularly, soccer.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the NGO also organised free healthcare for the children.
According to Olayinka, the event featured trainings for the participants which lasted months before a two-day soccer contest among them.
He said that the contest was held among children who were not more than 12 years at Osi Community School premises in Osi-Ekiti, Ido/Osi Local Government Area of Ekiti State.
“In this edition, we got coaches who recruited players who were not more than 12 years’ old from Ido-Ekiti, Igbole-Ekiti, Osi-Ekiti, Ifisin-Ekiti and Iropora-Ekiti.
“Mercy International Mission is an NGO based in the United States (US) and in Nigeria, which provides basic healthcare services to indigent people in rural areas.
“We also provided soccer balls and free jerseys for the children during the contest, which is the fifth edition.’’
Olayinka said that the organisers of the event are: the President of the foundation, Mr. Sunday Olayinka; and his wife, Mrs Victoria Olayinka; who is Vice-President.
“We want to promote sports’ development among the indigent children. And we had spent millions of naira to sponsor the programme.
“We want to advise the government that today’s children are tomorrow’s glory and the government must develop their talents.
“By the grace of God, we will go a step further to sponsor the best players by enrolling them at the Football Academy to develop their skills,” he said.
