Bauchi govt official urges groups, corporate bodies to help promote traditional sports

The Bauchi State Director of Sports, Lawan Garba, on Thursday urged individuals, groups and corporate bodies to engage in promoting the activities of traditional sports in the state.

Garba affirmed in Bauchi that traditional sports and games contribute a lot to life.

He said traditional sports contribute to a life of mutual understanding and peaceful behaviour among different cultural and social groups, communities and nations.

“We need to revive and promote traditional sports and games by looking through the window of the past and hence embrace our heritage, since it runs in our genes,” Garba said.

He explained that sports in that section were largely variations of local wrestling (kokuwa), boxing (dambe), Langa, horse racing, camel wrestling, bullfighting, cockfighting, hunting, among others.

Garba added that the promotion of these, like culture and art, recreation, leisure and sports activities, play an important role in communities.

“Their many benefits include improving the health and well-being of individuals, contributing to the empowerment of individuals, and promoting the development of inclusive communities.

“Recreation, leisure and sports activities may involve individuals, small groups, teams or whole communities and are relevant to people of all different ages, abilities and levels of skill.

“The types of recreation, leisure and sports activities people participate in vary greatly, depending on local context, which tend to reflect the social systems and cultural values,” he said.

The Director of Sports also assured of the commitment of the state government to providing an enabling environment for promoters of traditional sports in the state.

He said promoting the activities of traditional sports would help to identify talents from different communities of the state.

“Besides God-given talents, some sports and games need to be practised at a tender age because of the technicalities involved.

“For example, in order to become a great champion in local boxing, someone must have started training in the sport at a tender age,” Garba said

The Director of Sports said the state government was always already to support and encourage individuals or groups who wanted to promote traditional sports in the state.