Youth Minister Hails Play With Kwara Youths Organisers, Mulls Adoption at National Level

The Minister of Youth Development, Comrade Ayodele Olawande Wisdom, has endorsed Play With Kwara Youths (PWKY), a groundbreaking initiative designed to foster unity among young people in Kwara State. Olawande expressed interest in adopting it as a national youth engagement programme.

During a presentation to the Minister, PWKY Convener Yusuf Mutiu Olaitan explained that the initiative began as a sports fiesta aimed at promoting peace and unity among Kwara youth. The program has witnessed remarkable growth, expanding from 45 initial participants to 451 registrants for the upcoming edition, demonstrating its increasing popularity and impact.

According to PWKY spokesperson, Basheer Luqman Olarewaju, the initiative strategically employs various sporting activities including football, table tennis, ludo, and scrabble as unifying platforms. The programme has garnered significant support from prominent state figures, including Kwara State Governor, Mallam Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq; Speaker Kwara State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Saliu Danladi; the Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji (Dr) Ibrahim Sulu Gambari; National Assembly Legislators, among others.

Impressed by the initiative’s success, Olawande praised PWKY’s innovative approach to youth development and expressed the federal government’s readiness to scale the programme nationally. “This has grown beyond a Kwara project,” Hon. Olawande stated, requesting the organizers to provide a detailed template for replicating the program as a national youth convergence platform.

The PWKY delegation to the Minister of Youth Development included Shafihi Abdulrasheed (Team Technical Assistant), Ojediran Muyideen, Comr. Tajudeen Habeeb, Shehu Sulaiman, Abdulwahab Habidat, and Muhammed Saeed Osioyemi, all of whom are integral members of the initiative’s success story.