Chairman of Oyo state Cricket Association Okon Ukpong has advocated for organization of national competition in the country and within the states of the federation, Nigeria.
Speaking in Ibadan while X-raying the growth of the game, Ukpong who captained Nigeria national team for a decade noted that the game of cricket is not getting the type of attention it deserves to stimulate the development of the game.
He argued that there are no national competitions just as non is being organized within the states noting that in this kind of situation, there won’t be any talent discovery to replace aging ones.
“We are not organizing competitions among ourselves while states are not playing against themselves and everything appears to be in a lull” he explained.
The Chairman stated that he has planned a state competition among the cricketers in Oyo state pointing out that this is to discover more talents for the state and country even as he has plans to resuscitate the state cricket league.
“ During the last ten years, some of the players I coached and discovered have played for this country and as we speak the national under 17 captain is my player while many of the ones we produced are now playing in states outside Oyo state because it can not take care of them” he revealed
“ For instance many of the Lagos state players at the last National Sports Festival (NSF) came from Oyo state “ Ukpong said further “ Many of them are scattered all over the south west and many other states and have refused to show gratitude such that I was compelled to tell them to buy either ball or bats for the in coming players so that they can use it to develop themselves”
He therefore urged Oyo state to help in terms of infrastructure by buying equipment which the cricketers can use to hone their skill among other things arguing that the state has not done anything in terms of support.
Ukpong disclosed that he is making efforts to secure a corporate sponsorship from some Indian companies which will enhance long time planning that will result in the production of talent for the state and country.
The Chairman said further that he has been able to position the governance structure of his association apart from opening an account for the body while ensuring that there are regular meetings besides planning a tournament where all the secondary schools within its pool will play positing that he had also begun to go for talent hunt even as St Teresa Secondary School and 12 others schools have shown sufficient interest by participating in the activities of the body
