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Getting to see the Lagos State Commissioner for Youths Sports and Social Development, Prince Demola Adeniji-Adele is one of the easiest things to do. However, getting him for one-on-one interview is a different ballgame, more so, when you realise that many others would want a bit of his time just like you.

Hence, after several trials, Sunday Sunsport managed to sit down with the amiable Lagos Prince, whose duty it’s to develop and administer sports in Nigeria’s most populous state, Lagos.
Excerpts:

You’re about to clock a year in office, what has it been like in the past months, particularly working with Governor Fashola who appears to be in a hurry to change the face of Lagos in all aspects?
The year passed as if it were just six months. We have fought frantically to see most of our programmes through. Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola, like you can see, is quite passionate about Lagos. His desire is to transform the state for the better within the shortest possible time. That vision is what we are working to bring to reality.

To be specific, we are repositioning the state to take its rightful place in the sporting map of Nigeria. We want to make Lagos State a reference point for sports in the country. We have actually started redrawing the sporting map of the country where the state will become the first among equals.
Our population makes us the most populated state in the country.

We are aware that every Nigerian family has at least a representative in Lagos State. We know we have the largest concentration of sporting facilities in the state. We are now making these attributes of the state to count. We are involving the private sector more in the affairs of sports in the state, and I can tell you, we are already getting some positive feedback.

We used the past one year to lay a foundation that will definitely endure. We are paying great attention to grassroots sports development. We are concentrating on discovering young talents who will soon become world beaters. We are refurbishing our youth centres. Football hub centres like Evans Square and Campus Square are receiving attention to become what they used to be. Such centres would be developed in all the local government areas in the state.

We have done a lot in this past one year and I can go on and on rolling them out.
You reconstituted the Sports Council, which reportedly was locked in a fight for authority with your office, what really caused the squabbles?
Yes, we reconstituted the Sports Council, but it’s not true that anybody was locked in any form of fight for authority like you said. We tried to be as professional as possibly by bringing in quite a few professionals, and I’m happy with the work they are doing.

I do not know of any fight between the Council and my Ministry. On the contrary, we have cordial relationship and there can be no fight for authority among us.

I derive my authority from the governor of the state and the Council is under the Ministry. I have an oversight duty on the Council and I see no way our functions would clash. The Council is essentially part of the executive arm of the Ministry, whose function it is to implement some of the guidelines given to them or which they contributed to in formulating, and I must say that they have been doing a great job.
What is the Street Soccer Championship project your ministry is embarking on all about, and what do you intend to achieve with it?

Street Soccer Championship is a novel idea for formalising what has been in existence in the state for a long time now. Street Soccer developed from the ‘set football system’ and has been in operation in the state before 1950s. If you grew up in Lagos State, you must know about set system of football. That is what we have turned into a championship where the youths from every nook and cranny of the state would play and battle for supremacy.

Part of the novelty of the project is that everyone involved in it ends up being a winner. Our sponsors will have unlimited mileage as we promote the game. The youths will have means of expression too. Coaches will have the opportunity to see new talents from the blocs and I assure you, by its second edition the championship would have kick-started a street soccer fever in all parts of the state.
In fact, I’m amazed by the response to the championship. In terms of entries, we have received quite a tremendous patronage to the point that we had to revise our estimate upwards.

Before now, Lagos State was doing well in sports. For instance, at the National Sports Festivals, the state used to be among the best in the country, but it seems that things are not looking up for the state in this area at the moment. What has gone wrong and what are you doing to stem the slide?
Like I said earlier, we are revamping the state structure. We are concentrating on grassroots development. We want to put Lagos State on the right track again through guided and well-directed policies that will automatically lead to excellence. We are working towards making sure we provide the best of swimmers, athletes, boxers and others in the near future.

The other day, I was telling the board of the Sports Council that we were not putting pressure on them to fight for the first position at the next National Sports Festival in Kaduna. Rather, we would be contented with an improved performance, but if eventually we emerge as winners, it would be a by-product of our effort. Our major concern now is to provide a foundation for guaranteed improved performance. Our target is to use sports to promote a healthier populace and engage our youths constructively.

We see sports as a veritable instrument for reducing crime and promoting excellence. We are striving to use sports to make Lagos State great again. Part of our plan is to effectively use sports as a mobilising agent for positive change. These are part of the things we have been doing in this one year.

How would you describe working with Governor Fashola?
Cordial! Very cordial! As you can see, Governor Fashola is a very intelligent young man. He knows more than he lets out and I have never crossed with him on any issues. Being a great sportsman himself has helped me a lot. We speak the same language and more importantly, we have mutual respect for each other. I share his passion for development in the state and it’s paying off. He has been quite supportive.

What should we expect in your second year as the man in charge of sports in the state?
We want to build on the foundation we had laid. In concrete terms, we expect that one of our teams in the league would get promotion to the Premiership. We expect to see our state being rated as the best in the country. We are hoping to see more street urchins getting off the street and being rehabilitated through sports. We are envisaging a Lagos that will be free from the menace of touts and petty criminals. We want to create a healthier citizenry through a sports-for-all policy.