By Uzor Odigbo
Former Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) President, Dan Ngerem has been made an Ambassador of the Olympafrica International Foundation.
Olympafrica International Foundation was founded in 1989 by former International Olympics Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch in conjunction with the Association of National Olympic Committee of Africa.
This is to promote the social values of the Olympics in African most especially, in the area of youth sports development, youth centres, education, health, training, and social economical initiatives that will impact in the life of athletes when their sports career is over.
ANOCA president Moustapha Berraf in a letter of appointment to Mr. Ngerem said they were banking on his expertise, dedication and passion for sports to bring a positive change to African youths.
Speaking on joining the ambassador’s club for the organisation with headquarters in Dakar, Senegal who are ready to host the Youth Olympics in 2026, Mr. Ngerem noted that his interest is to see that youths are empowered through sports and when it is all over they would have something to fall back and have a good life.
“By 2030 African will constitute over 42 percentage of global youths according to World Economic Forum and I am pleased that the Olympafrica is at the epicenter of reimagining youth engagement, youth empowerment, nurturing our youths through sports,” said Mr. Ngerem
“I’ve partnered with Olympafrica in some projects and so I am particularly pleased to act as an ambassador to Olympafrica to foster this excellent engagement.
“Indeed the empowerment vision in Africa is the gold standard others should copy and paste.
“Why am I interested is because there should be life after sports, sustainable, fruitful life after sports, because the ovation will stop one day.”