What happened in Bauchi on Sunday is a sign that the future is bright for the young and talented. The take home from the myriads of opportunities to showcase the huge abundance of talent Nigeria is blessed with is a sign that young people no longer have the excuse to allow their natural endowment come to waste.
A novelty match was organized under the auspices of the African Children Talent Discovery Foundation (ACTDF) as an avenue to raising the next football stars from raw talents to the palace of prominence. This is in tandem with the goal of The African Children Talent Discovery Foundation (ACTDF) which is about mentoring of young football talents and giving wings to their dreams.
The venue of the match, the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Stadium was filled to maximum capacity as residents of Bauchi thronged the stadium to watch their various stars amongst which included JJ Okocha (skipper of the team), Nwakwo Kanu, Kalilou Fadigha, Lualua, Garba Lawal, Taribo West, Emenike, Babayaro, John Gaadi, Amokachi, Steve Appiah, Babangida, Noah Dallaji and others.
Prior to the novelty football match which took place at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Stadium in Bauch between African All Stars comprising of former football stars drawn from Nigeria, Congo, Senegal and Cote D’voire, the train of the African Children Talent Discovery Foundation (ACTDF) and invited football stars as well celebrities moved to the ancient palace of the Emir of Bauchi, Dr. Rilwanu Suleiman Adamu. At the palace, the visiting horde were warmly welcomed as the monarch unreservedly expressed his excitement at the laudable initiative of the African Children Talent Discovery Foundation (ACTDF) founded by Engineer Noah Dallaji.
The Emir of Bauchi added that “In my hey days while in school, I was a football player, I played very well that I was nicked named ‘Amo the Bull’ because I was playing just like Daniel Amokachi, I could score goals from any angleâ€.
In his reaction, Engineer Dallaji stated that the foundation was in Bauchi state (his home state) to discover raw footballing talents, help nurture their skills and make out of them the next world-class footballers. This, he said, will ebb the alarming rate of unemployment in the country.
On the reason why there was an array of footballers at the novelty match, Engineer Dallaji emphasized that it was done so as to serve as motivation for the newly discovered footballers to be best at what they do.
