THE PRODIGY GAME: FARUK MALAMI YABO COMBINING FOOTBALL WITH EDUCATION

Academic learning and sports complement each other, and it has been long forgotten by parents and children alike the significance of both in the growth and development of an individual which if carried out together will increase ones potentials and eventually shapes his personality. Education is merely a way to gather knowledge and improve ‘academic’ skills, whereas from sports one can get the qualities of leadership, sharing, tolerance, and team-spirit. In today’s world, both are equally important and are indeed the two sides of the same coin.
IF you were to ask a football fan to describe a top player, ‘well-educated’ is unlikely to be near the top of the list of attributes. Even the most gifted footballers can dazzle us on the pitch with their technical ability, and still be routinely lambasted for their perceived lack of brain cells afterwards. Then again, the demands associated with making it as a player, combined with a general disdain for education within the game, means we don’t really have a right to complain when some of our most beloved superstars can sometimes appear a little dense.

But with figures suggesting that around two-fifths of footballers will file for bankruptcy within five years of hanging up their boots, mainly because they lack the training and qualifications for another career, there’s clearly an argument for change.
One man who has taken up the challenge of ensuring this change and one who has seen the value of combining football with academic achievement is no other than our very own Honourable Faruk Malami Yabo MFR, a seasoned politician and a technocrat whose philanthropic activities cuts across all sectors of human and capital development.

It is on this premises that Hon. Faruk Yabo has been coordinating several sporting activities aimed at promoting sport with education in a view to engage the youthful generation to participate in both cognitive and organisationally demanding activities that help convey self discipline and leadership skills, especially for those from disadvantaged background. He's done that to many and was able to succeed in the likes of Abdullahi Shehu who now plays for Turkish side Bursaspor, Usman Muhammed of Norwegian club Sarpsborg 08 and lots others, all of whom have several international caps attached to their footballing career.
Of recent is the groundbreaking event that took place yesterday 11th January 2019 at Iman International College Sokoto, the first of it kind in Nigeria where in collaboration with African Sport Development Centre and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Hon. Faruk Yabo was able to successfully sponsored twenty five indigenous football players to study various undergraduate and postgraduate sporting courses at the African Sport Development Centre. After which successful candidates, having acquired both academic and sporting knowledge, would be injected into various football clubs across Europe and beyond, as the case was with others before them. The event was graced by people from all works of life, eminent personalities comprising of top political leaders, European football experts, professional footballers and legends including the likes of Tijjani Babangida, Ibrahim Babangida and host of others.
This is indeed a very laudable achievement in the history of Sokoto state, a state known with skilled footballers whose talent at the end always went untapped due to lack of sponsorship and proper counseling. But with the docility and chauvinism of Hon. Faruk Malami Yabo, I am optimistic that Sokoto State will soon become the envy of other states when it comes to both local and international footballing activities. Already, we have several from Sokoto who are currently representing Nigeria at global stage and making Nigerians proud, courtesy of the selflessness of the amiable and benevolent Faruk Malami Yabo.