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Football Icon, SEGUN ODEGBAMI Tells City People
Many people usually describe Soccer Icon, Segun Odegbami in many ways. Some call him a football icon. Others call him a living legend. Whatever you call him, it is because he has done a lot to improve Nigeria’s Football and Sports, in general.
Over the last few years, he has been involved in many Sporting initiatives. And he has a Sports radio station. And he has a Sports Academy, among many other initiatives. How does he cope? That is the question many ask. He was recently appointed a Associate Fellow at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs at NIIA. He is also the Head of the Sports & Diplomacy Unit at NIIA.
He maintains a regular Sports Column, and he is a prolific writer on Sports. He is also one of those involved in the planning of the forthcoming grand reception by NIIA & Airpeace in honour of the 1976 Olympic Heroes. Many call him a great footballer, which he is, but he sees himself more as a Sportsman. That is why he talks about Sports more than Football. Many don’t know that he loves to play Tennis. He also loves Swimming.
If you are close to him you would have noticed that this ace footballer likes to talk a lot about Sports. Just sit down with him for a few minutes and all you will hear him speak about, excitedly, is Sports. He recently told City People the reason.
He explained that “it is because he loves Sports a lot. You will just find out that everything I do is Sports-related”.
“It has to be Sports-related, because I look at the totality of life through the prism of Sports. If I cannot see the Sports content in it, I will not do it. And one of the lessons I have learnt at this point in my life is that no matter the subject you bring up, I will add a Sport-side to it”.
“Like we are into a very exciting programme right now, which is about SPORTS and DIPLOMACY. I am the Head of the Sports & Diplomacy Unit of the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs (NIIA). Who would have ever thought that this institute, that foremost institute, where the foreign policy agenda for Nigeria is intellectualised, will now be thinking of Sports in that department. But you see, I am there. Because somehow I have now understood the Scope and Dimension of Sports, that it covers every aspect of life”.
“Recently, I was invited to a meeting of Town Planners at the Jomo Kenyatta University. They were doing an Urban Renewal Plan of the city of Mombassa in Kenya. I was shocked that I was invited to come. I went and I discovered the relationship between Sports and Town Planning, which is what is prevalent in the world now, in a lot of cities, including some of the most developed cities in the world now. They are looking for experienced people like myself who have the experience in Sports, to work with their Town Planners to redesign their cities. Even in London, the city of London has been in the last 10 years undergoing a renewal, incorporating Sports, physical activities, into their city design”.
“Countries like Finland, Norway, Sweden are fully going on. That is in the Scandinavian countries. They are discouraging people from driving, polluting the air, overcrowding the cities. So, they want people to do other things. So, they have introduced Cycle Lanes, Running Lanes. They have introduced all of these elements into the design of their cities, which we don’t have here”.
“Meanwhile, those elements are very, very important. In this world today, the biggest problem we have is Climate Change and Pollution is one of the things that contribute to destroying our climate. Pollution of different kinds, particularly from Fossil fuels, from the generators, the cars and all of those things, leaving all their carbon footprints everywhere. Pollution makes the citizens unhealthy. So you want to decongest cities of all of these. You want to get people exercising and walking, running, cycling, and reducing their dependence on cars”.
“You have to create their elements into city designs”.
“I just gave you that example to show you the dimension of Sports to Town Planning. There is Sports & Health. If you go to Algiers now, in Algeria, they are redesigning the city, so that citizens will be healthy. Go to Singapore, all the streets have trees to clean up the air. So that people can be healthy. Go to Nairobi, you will find out that they have created so many cities that walk path. It is for Health purposes. If you go to their parks you will see thousands of people in the parks”.
“There is Sports Law, Sports Medicine, Sports Merchandising, Sports and Architecture, Sports and Engineering”.
“Some people like us now have discovered that when you talk of Sports, it covers the whole spectrum of life. But you have to be able to understand it”.
“So, me ooo, anything that I do now, anything you tell me about, I can connect Sports to it. And once I can connect Sports to it, it becomes interesting for me. It becomes something I can do. It is in my comfort zone.
“Once its Sports I don’t see the burden”.
“That is why I am into Sports Radio, Sports School, Sports Diplomacy, Sports Publication, that is my life”.
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