Stakeholders preach peace, unity as Yaba stars down Dawn, win NIREC football tourney

The need for both the government and the governed to see and use sports especially football as a unifying factor has been stressed.

At the end of a three-day grassroots football competition organised by the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC), stakeholders urged Nigerian youths to embrace dialogue and peace as panacea for veritable development.

Executive Secretary of NIREC, Prof. Fr. Cornelious Omonokhua, while speaking to newsmen on the final matchday said the tournament which many team from across the country was aimed at fostering cohesion, peace and unity among the youth in the country.

“Nothing can be valuable than peace and unity. When there’s peace, development will be easy. In nation building, all hands must be on deck. Sports is a meaningful tool which we can use to engage the young ones at all levels,” he said.

Also, speaking, the coordinator of the tournament, Stanley Onu, harped on the need to advance the course Nigeria’s development using sports.

Yaba Stars FC defeated New Dawn FC  2-0 to win the maiden edition of the NIREC Peace football Cup.

The final which was decided at the football pitch of the Old Parade Ground in Abuja in the presence of a Permanent Secretary in the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation Dr. Nnamdi Mbaeri saw the highly attacking Yaba Stars emerge champions in a keenly contested encounter.

“The football competition saw a balanced numbers of both Christians and Muslims in all the teams, which was aimed at promoting peace and unity among the youth as they are the future of the country.

“We will make sure we organise the competition every year and have more teams participate, because we know that football is a unifying factor in the society and we want the country to be at peace for our nation’s development,” Onu said.

Others teams that participated during the competition include Razor Razor fc, High Flyers, Unity Boys and Shinning Stars.