R/S Governor Hails PHCCIMA Over Successful Hosting Of 1st USA College Prospect Soccer Camp Initiative

Executive Governor of Rivers state, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi among others has commended the Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, PHCCIMA over successful hosting of the 1stUSA College Prospect Soccer Camp initiative, tagged 'Play Football and Study Free in America', held at the prestigious Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium in Port Harcourt.

Amaechi who made this commendation when he visited the stadium venue of the talent hunt programme said he is impressed with what the chamber is doing to support government effort at giving youths of the state a meaningful direction. He said the ministry of Sports will be given the necessary support needed to collaborate and involve in such activities to ensure not just support for our youths, but also maximum utilization of the stadium facilities.

Speaking about the foreign coaches who flew in to conduct the talent hunt, Governor Amaechi said it shows that the state is a safe heven for foreign investment, expressing hope that the programme will open channels of collaboration and sporting relationship between the state and foreign partners.

According to him, the state government is willing and open to valuable partnership that will see the concession of the Adokiye Amiesimaka stadium facilities to foreign collaborators to manage in line with the global standard, saying it was the only way we can ensure that the facility is successfully managed and sustained.

Similarly, the Rivers state Commissioner for Sports, Fred Wigwe was also full of praises for the organizers of the event, stating that he was amazed at the prospect of the initiative that will see youths of the state play football and study free in American Universities.

It will be recalled that Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce in collaboration with renowned youth football promotional outfit, Change the Game Project has put the event together with the objective of providing our youths with a virile and meaningful direction even as the selection process in the week long programme produced a good number of youths who were successfully selected by the foreign coaches.

President of Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce, Engr. Emeka Unachukwu in his remark while speaking to PHCCIMA media described the programme as a huge success. He noted that the event was part of PHCCIMA's End-to-End empowerment programme. The PHCCIMA helmsman noted that the idea is not just to hunt for talents and train youths for skills, but to also empower them and guide them through mentorship to succeed.

He explained that the success achieved was as a result of days of careful and well-thought-out planning, diligence of staff and collaborators, security, health officials and of course the magnanimity of the Rivers state government who provided the turf. Unachukwu said he was excited that the lofty objective of the project was achieved which consequently has been translated to value to the lives of these talented youths, who ordinarily would have been left to fall prey to the devices of street life.

He explained that the programme also afforded youths the opportunity to realize their lifelong dream of studying in universities abroad free of cost in the United States while playing football to make ends meet.

The one week football camp event tagged 'Play Football and Study Free in America” witnessed the presence of coaches from about 15 Universities in America and others from Europe and Italy who took on the screening of boys and girls between the ages of 15 – 19 and other categories to hunt out exceptional talents at the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium in Port Harcourt. The programme climaxed with the selection of a good number of youths set to jet out soon to the United States of America to kick start an illustrious career.

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