President of the Association of Former Female Athletes of Nigeria (AFFAN), Esther Aluko, has urged the private sector and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to support the association.
Aluko told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abuja that this would help to enhance the development of female athletes in the country.
She added that the association needed the support of all stakeholders in sports, corporate organisations, as well as the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development.
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Aluko said the association was determined to achieve its goals of discovering, educating, empowering and mentoring young girls through sports activities and programmes.
She pointed out that this would be done using the wealth of experience, knowledge and connections of its members.
“I want to appeal to corporate organisations, philanthropists and well-meaning Nigerians to support AFFAN in its laudable agenda of helping young athletes to become better persons, successful in sports, education, career, family life and responsible citizens of the of Nigeria
“AFFAN gives mentoring opportunities and life skills education to athletes during their career in order to help them develop a strong understanding of how their skills in sports such as fair play, teamwork, respect, discipline and integrity, can work.
“Excellence, friendship and equality can be buoyed and transferred to other vocations and preparing the athletes for a seamless transition into retirement in the future.
“We observed that many female athletes drop out of school and from active sports participation due to lack of funds and mentorship.
“They are unable to cope with academic challenges under the harsh economy situation and other national challenges they encounter,’’ Aluko said.
She also said AFFAN had been providing safeguard advices and counseling to athletes so as to avoid the same mistakes some of their members made during their time due to lack of counseling and mentorship.
“AFFAN members are, the more their influence as role models and mentors would encourage, female participation in sports at all levels in a safe and conducive environment.
“We  had also seen the need to ameliorate the unsalutary effect of the challenges female athletes face and decided to help them optimise their potential in sports and education through our services of mentoring and sourcing sponsorship for potential female athletes.
“We are also aware that a number of female athletes go through some unpleasant challenges, ranging from sexual harassment, abuse and violence in and out of camp, and when and where female role models are absent, the female athlete becomes vulnerable to any kind of abuse,’’ Aluko said.(NAN)
