PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has, once again, reaffirmed his commitment to grassroots sports development in the country, saying getting the talents early would help Nigeria to build world champions.

Speaking while launching the Nigeria Academicals Sports Committee’s (NASCOM) initiative, Rhythm ‘N’ Play, Thursday in Abuja, the president, who is the grand patron of the initiative, said his government is willing to reposition sports by encouraging young people to embrace it early in life.

“We are committed to grassroots sports development and we are going to bring back Physical Education (PE) to schools and make sports compulsory for every Nigerian child.

“We believe that getting them early will indeed be a better idea to groom world stars. With this initiative, we are aware of the enormous challenges in terms of facilities, but we are determined to reverse this trend by using a cost effective style to ensure that we achieve the target of engaging two million kids in sports.

“I, therefore, call on the private sector to support this initiative for the betterment of our youths,” he said.

The president charged the National Sports Commission (NSC) and Ministry of Education to work together in achieving the aim of Rhythm ‘N’ Play.

Also speaking at the occasion, Minister of Sports/ NSC Chairman, Bolaji Abdullahi said the project intends to revolutionise sports at the grassroots level, adding that efforts would be geared towards encouraging schools by providing for them sports equipment and help train their games masters.

“We will rely on the existing platform and leverage on existing competitions to nurture future global champions with the intention of getting two million kids to take to sports across the country.

“We will take the initiative across the country through the zones by ensuring that we have Rhythm ‘N’ Play clubs in schools,” the minister said.

An elated NASCOM Chairman, Yemi Idowu promised that the body would work with the Nigerian School Sports Federation (NSSF), Youth Sports Federation of Nigeria (YSFON) and other stakeholders to achieve the two million target, while calling on corporate bodies to support the project.