British Council’s Director, Business Services, Lucy Pearson receives the Queen’s Baton from a member of the relay team in Lagos…on Tuesday.
The British Council will continue to contribute to Nigeria’s sports development, which it has been involved in several ways.Speaking in Lagos on Tuesday when the Queen’s Baton Relay made a stop over at the Council ahead of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games, British Council’s Director, Business Services, Lucy Pearson said the visit was the right forum to let Nigerians know that the organisation helped in promoting sports development in Nigeria and other Commonwealth nations.
According to Pearson, the British Council has been involved in sports development in Nigeria through organising sports programmes like Premier Skills, which is a partnership between British Council and the Premier League that has groomed over 200 girls in Lagos with skills in community football development and child protection advocacy.
She added that the Council also supports the game of rugby through its iTry rugby platform, which is a partnership between British Council and Barewa Rugby Club in Kano that works with schools to introduce the sports to poor communities in Kano.
“We are delighted that the Queens Baton is at home here in Nigeria and we hope that this will spur young students here to emulate the virtues of sports,” she said.Also speaking at the event, Secretary General of the Commonwealth Games Association of Nigeria, Tunde Popoola said he considers the Commonwealth Games the second biggest sports event Nigeria participates in, adding that it has the added attribute of placing both able and not so able athletes in one single platform where the medals count as one.
“Remember the Olympics have Paralympics? For the Commonwealth Games you have one event. The Queens Baton is a symbol of the unity that these games have come to represent,” he added.
