Football Academies Stopped From Training Inside Lagos State Public Schools, Except With Approval From Ministry Of Education

Several private-owned football academies and youth clubs in Lagos State have been running from pillar to post since last month, following a directive stopping them from using public schools for their training sessions.

READ ALSO: Adeola Afolayan Adores Virgil van Dijk, Eyes Career Breakthrough With Grass Runners FC Of Sagamu

Sports247 gathered that the directive from Lagos State Ministry of Education is sequel to recent attacks across the country on schools by terrorists, who have made kidnapping of students and teachers their latest pastime.

The escalating negative security implications around schools nationwide have brought up cause for concern among education officials in all states across the country, with academic assessors in Lagos not left out.

The situation has now led to a clampdown on what used to be easy access to playgrounds of public schools across Lagos metropolis, with operators of football academies and clubs now instructed to get approval from the state’s ministry of education before they are allowed to use pitches of government-run institutions.

A football academy coach who spoke to Sports247 on condition of anonymity, disclosed that he usually pays security men at the gate of one of the community primary schools in his area and they allow him use the pitch three times a week, with special payments also made when hosting competitions there.

However, at the end of last month, the story changed, and he was told to get official approval from the Ministry of Education before he and his players would be allowed entry, even when he offered to double the fee he normally pays them.

The same directive was issued to other teams using the school as their training base; thereby rendering the arena barren of football action until last weekend, when some of the coaches returned with letters of approval from the State Universal Education Board (SUBEB).

“It has not been easy o,” the coach moaned. “I’ve been running up and down to Ikeja almost every day to get papers of approval for me to use the pitch where we have been training for over six years now.

“We started training there for free when they did not have a fence. The gatemen started collecting money from us when the school built their fence, and they still allowed us to train.

“It was only in the middle of last month that they said a directive had come from SUBEB that only people with government approval should be allowed to use football pitches in public schools and that’s what we have been pursuing since.”

Sports247 checks at a criss-cross section of schools in Lagos revealed large-scale compliance with the new directive, although some locations within interior communities are yet to comply, though they are the ones most vulnerable to abduction of students by bandits.

The post Football Academies Stopped From Training Inside Lagos State Public Schools, Except With Approval From Ministry Of Education first appeared on Sports247 Nigeria.

The post Football Academies Stopped From Training Inside Lagos State Public Schools, Except With Approval From Ministry Of Education appeared first on Sports247 Nigeria.