The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of  Ooni of Ife Global Outreach, Dr Ayobami Oyedare, has advised Nigerians to promote  their tourism potential through local and international sporting activities.

Oyedare said that this was  an area that would attract national and international spectators and investors without limit.

He  told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)  in Lagos that through such partnership, Nigerians would be able to narrate their stories in positive ways before other nationals they would come across.

He commended the Ooni of  Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi,who in partnership with Cape Verde, a republic in Northwest Coast of Africa,  accepted promote Nigerian  tourism through sports.

Oyedare said, “We want to tell our own stories to the international community  through sports because we have so many positive stories to tell about our country.

” Since  sports has a  very strong influence in the world,  so we want to tap from it.

” We  have decided to select African Beach Games and African Heavyweight championships  as platforms to promote lthe richness of African tourism,” he said.

He told NAN that the two sports would  help identify, build and promote immense “hidden talents” of young Africans that would  turn into  goldmine on the world stage.

” The sporting project will be at the front burner of promoting African culture and heritage by telling African stories through various spectrums.

” Both events will serve as new the  sport and  economic space which are intended  to attract new brand of Foreign Direct Investors (FDI), Global Corporate Institutions (GCI) and royalties,” he said.

According to one of the partners, Saulo Montrond,  the CEO of Green Studios, the project titled :  Sal 2019, will feature African Beach Games, a continental multi-sport event which will be holding among athletes from Africa.

He said that the games would be  organised under the supervision of the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa.

“The first sporting  events will hold on the Island of Sal, Cape Verde from June 14 to June 23, 2019,” he said.

He added that the second event: African Heavyweight Boxing Championship, is meant to revive the image of boxing as a huge mechanism to support youth development, under the ” Africa King’s Belt” title.

” It has the official approval of both  the African Boxing Union (ABU) and the World Boxing Council ( WBC) respectively.

” The first event was hosted in December  2017 in Cape Verde  and was streamed live to over 80 million households across Europe and  the US,” he said.

He said that with the  royal blessings of the  Ooni of Ife in  partnership with the Ooni of Ife Global Outreach (OIGO), the second edition would be  staged in Nigeria in August.

Similarly, Prince Adebolu Ademiluyi, a stakeholder in the event, told NAN that the project was meant to boost a sustainable value chain for sporting  activities through marketing, production, and  broadcasting.

“Both activities aim at supporting and reengineering age-grades sport development which will help in the realization of dreams of many African children.

” It will equally be providing unequalled support toward the reformation of sport education in schools, reshape, redirect and re- channel rightly the energies of the continent’s youngest population,” he said.

Also speaking, Mr.Yan Craven,  the CEO of Sal 2019, African Beach Games project, said  that Nigeria remains the most populous and biggest sporting black nation  that others looked up to for a clear direction.

” We eagerly await Nigeria to take its rightful leadership position with immense technical investment in sports development, heritage reconstruction, alternative economy and technology promotion,” he said.

He expressed   his home government’s willingness and excitement toward building various spectrum of business space and relationship between the two countries.

Craven also commended Oba Ogunwusi for  exploring various relationship opportunities between Nigeria abd Cape Verde .

“I believe that Nigerian youths are very key to the modernity of Africa and the drivers of its global economy development.

” The African Beach Games is a continental multi-sport event which will be holding among athletes from Africa,” he told NAN.

(NAN)