The Vice-Chancellor, Federal University of Education, Kontagora, Prof. Faruk Rashid-Haruna, has urged universities and colleges to treat sports as part of their educational mission to promote sports development in the country.
Rashid-Haruna made the call on Thursday in Kano in his keynote address at the opening ceremony of the 54th National Conference and Workshop of the Nigeria Association for Physical, Health Education, Recreation, Sports and Dance (NAPHER-SD).
The conference has the theme: “Transparency, Integrity and Accountability in Sports, Health and Education”.
He urged institutions to evaluate sports programmes based on participation, learning, health and integrity outcomes rather than medal counts alone.
Rashid-Haruna said universities, government agencies, sports associations and professional educators must work together to ensure that physical education, health education, recreation, sports and dance fulfil their wider purposes.
He said the objective was to improve health, develop character, strengthen inclusion and prepare responsible citizens.
“Sport should reward excellence, but excellence must include honesty, safety, fairness and responsibility.
“A competition that produces medals while sacrificing integrity is not a successful educational or sporting system,” he said.
He called on the government and public authorities to develop a coherent national framework for integrity in sports that connects anti-corruption, athlete welfare, safeguarding, health and education.
He also called for predictable funding for university sports, transparent reporting as a condition for public support, stronger capacity for regulatory, anti-corruption, medical and dispute-resolution institutions, as well as the development and maintenance of safe, accessible and inclusive facilities.
Earlier, the National President of NAPHER-SD, Prof. Florence Adeyanji, said the conference provided a platform for initiating reforms that would move the sector forward.
She said transparency, integrity and accountability in sports were important to sports development and that stakeholders had a responsibility to prepare athletes for success.
Adeyanji added that the conference provided participants with an opportunity to share knowledge, noting that not everything was learnt in classrooms.
