BY JOSEPH ODOEKWU
The President of the Pentathlon Federation of Nigeria, Dr. Jonathan Nnaji has given reasons for the appointment of Rev. (Amb.) Samuel Ikpea as the Chairman of Youth Development Committee and Vice Chairman Marketing/ Business Affairs Committee of NMPF.
Dr. Nnaji who spoke exclusively with this writer stated that the goal of the Federation played a major role in his appointment and the federation needs to get goal-getters to enable her achieve her set goals.
“First we looked at youth development and what we are associated with” Nnaji started “Because the committee which Ikpea was appointed to head basically has to do with youth and athletes development”.
“And you know that when it comes to the issue of Supporters Club in Nigeria, it is a frequency where youth are and since most of the athletes we have are youth, his proven track record with the Supporters Club can make him further assist with the development”.
Dr Nnaji further added that the fact that Pentathlon is an Olympic Sports which needed to be given serious attention further played a role in the decision of appointing Ikpea.
“Another thing you should know is that pentathlon is an Olympics game and such games are big games, so we need people like Ikpea to come and assist us with the development of the game”
“They were about 12 of them but it took us time before he was selected into that committee there and we went through his resume and found out that he has the capacity to do deliver”.
“It was a committee that screened him and others, when the committee finished selecting, they sent the names to the executive board for confirmation and with what we saw with their recommendation, it did not take the board time to approve the appointment of Ikpea as the head because we saw that he has the capacity”.
Dr. Nanji further stated that his appointment will not only be felt by the Federation, or by the Ministry of Sports, but when he impacts his knowledge on the athlete, the result will be felt nationally, continentally and at the global scene
