The leadership of the Lagos State Sports Commission on Wednesday met a mother and her daughter on a complaint she made in a viral video on social media on Tuesday, to offer immediate succour.
The LSSC made the disclosure in a statement on Wednesday, after the meeting, in response to her allegation against council officials who allegedly sealed her shop over dirtines claim.
The woman claimed in the video that the council officials refused to allow her 13-year-old child a racket from the sealed shop she was to use for a sports competition.
She noted that the action prevented her from representing the state she had won five gold medals for in previous competitions.
The LSSC, in the statement said, “Following a viral video in which a mother whose young daughter represents Lagos in sports expressed serious disappointment about how personnel of a certain local government hindered her young daughter from participating in a crucial sporting engagement, the leadership of the Lagos State Sports Commission, led by the Commission’s Director General, Mr Lekan Fatodu, met with the woman and her daughter this morning to get a full understanding of the situation and offer immediate succour.
“While the woman acknowledged the Lagos State Sports Commission as a consistent enabler of the dreams of her daughter and other young athletes, she advised that more efforts should be made by the commission to enlighten other government institutions in the state to avoid becoming a hindrance to the ambitions of young people, especially girls, or becoming dream crushers.
“In his remarks, Fatodu assured the woman of immediate action by reaching out to the government entity involved in her daughter’s situation to avert future occurrences. He also outlined mid-term and long-term responses that will include the activation of a robust policy framework aimed at mitigating similar circumstances, expanding communication channels between the Commission and parents of young athletes, including the athletes themselves, to ensure urgent support whenever the need arises, and increasing awareness among MDAs to protect future talents.”
Mr Fatodu said the dream of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu was to see young talents being discovered in the state and nurtured to full potential.
He added that any action by anyone or an entity negating that ambition for youth empowerment through sports would be a massive disservice to efforts on talent development.
The woman in the viral video on Tuesday, also alleged that officials of an unnamed general hospital in the state rejected her attempt to use her phone or ATM cards to make payment of N13,000 for medical tests for her child seeking treatment in the facility.
The woman said the officials insisted she must first make withdrawal from her account, before paying cash into an account using a readily available PoS, with a charge of N600, else treatment on her child will not commence.
She noted that action of the medical officials at the facilty would worsen the deteriorating health or even lead to deaths of patients suffering serious illnesses, and needing urgent treatment.
