TheCable

President Muhammadu Buhari has urged the youth to shun mischief and lawlessness by engaging in sporting activities. 

Buhari spoke when he received organizers of the Muhammadu Buhari Cup competition in Katsina.

The competition is held annually in Daura emirate to encourage youths to develop an interest in sporting careers and enhance their skills.

A statement by Garba Shehu, his senior special assistant on media and publicity, quoted the president as saying the health benefits of sports should make it more attractive to both young and old.

The president commended organizers of the competition for maintaining unity among the youths in the emirate, adding that by keeping young people positively engaged, sporting activities also protect them from negative influences.

In addition to physical and mental fitness, he said sports also provides employment and ensures wellbeing.

“I want the younger generation of our population to take part in sports so as to keep away from mischief and lawlessness,” the president was quoted to have said.

“Sports provide jobs opportunities. It is also a business from which you can earn respectable incomes.

“Those who compete and excel at state and zones will eventually rise into national reckoning with focus and determination.”

Aliyu Bello, secretary of the local organising committee of the competition, told the president that before the introduction of various cup competitions, young people in the emirate were contending with idleness, lawlessness and in some cases, drugs abuse.

He said the revival of sporting events in the state had brought a decline in negative activities.