President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been urged to establish Nigeria’s first, specialised Federal University of Sports Sciences.
Professor of Sports Psychology, Oluwaseun Olarenwaju Omotayo, made the call in his Exaugural Lecture delivered at the University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho, Volta Region, Ghana on Thursday, 25 July, 2024.
The topic of the Exaugural Lecture was ” Psychologizing in Sports: My 37-Year Odyssey” in which Prof. Omotayo traced out his academic career from the the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye to U-Has, Ho Volta Region Ghana – after bagging his Bachelor’s, Master and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Ibadan (UI) from the 1980s-1990.
According to Prof. Omotayo, establising a Federal University of Sports Sciences in Nigeria would lay a proper, 21st Century foundation for the country to tap into the global sports economy which is worth trillions of dollars and channel the country’s youth energy in positive direction by harnessing the sporting potential of its youthful population for nation-building purposes.
Taking the audience through his contribution in the field of Sports Psychology in theory and practice, Prof. Omotayo cited several academic research he conducted either alongside his UI mentors – notably the late Prof. Sohi, an Indian – singly or with his mentees in all the universities he had worked.
In putting theories into practice, Prof. Omotayo recalled, among others, how he served as an assistant to Coach Porbeni to prepare the Nigerian Athletics Team to the 1987 All Africa Games in Kenya, and serving as the Sports Psychologist to the Saudi ’89 Flying Eagles of Nigeria, where that national football team recorded the famous “Damman Miracle” by coming from four goals down to equalise and beat the USSR team in the age-grade tournament.
Vice Chancellor, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho Volta Region, Ghana Prof. Lydia Aziato, thanked Prof. Omotayo for establishing the School of Sports Science and Exercise Medicine in the university from being a mere idea to a Department whose graduates are sought out by the sports industry in Ghana and across the world.
In appreciation to the university for supporting him, Prof. Omotayo announced an annual Oriade-Olabisi Omotayo Foundation Prize for the best student in Sports Psychology.
Prof. Omotayo also urged the Ghanaian authorities to give the sports facilities used to host the 2024 Africa Games in Ghana to the University of Health and Allied Sciences to manage through its School of Sports and Exercise Medicine in order to save the facilities from decay and as a foundation to establishing a full-fledge University of Sports Sciences in Ghana.
The Exaugural Lecture had many dignitaries in attendance from Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana and the United Kingdom — countries in which Prof. Omotayo had worked in his 37 years of teaching and research as a university lecturer — include the Minister for Volta Region, Yao Letsa Archibald, who also thanked Prof. Omotayo for his service to Ghana as an academic.
Prof. Omotayo is the first professor of Sports Psychology in the university, Ghana and indeed Africa to be celebrated with an Exaugural Lecture.
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