By joshua 
Nasarawa SWAN honours cleric with Tennis championship
From Esther Akaa, Lafia.
The Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN), Nasarawa State Chapter is organising a Table Tennis tournament to honour Archbishop Emmanuel Musa Jatau during the upcoming SWAN week.
L-R, Nasarawa SWAN, Comrade Smah Geroge and Archbishop Emmanuel Jatau during a courtesy visit in Abuja
SWAN’s mark of honour is in recognition of the Archbishop’s contributions to the growth of sports in Nasarawa State.
Chairman of SWAN , Comrade Smah George made this known during a courtesy visit on the Bishop on Monday in Abuja.
Archbishop Jatau is the Founder of Faith Hill Prophetic Assembly, a church with headquarters in Abuja and hails from Obi Local Government Area of the State.
He is also the Director General, Pan-African University in West Africa.
Through a variety of empowerment initiatives, he has made significant contributions to the development of youths and sports throughout the nation.
According to him, the association will name one of its competitions at the forthcoming SWAN Week as “Archbishop Emmanuel Jatau Table Tennis Championship ” in acknowledgment of his contributions to the growth of sports and other youth development programmes across the nation.
Comrade George affirmed that SWAN would continue to collaborate with government, organisations and individuals for the discovery of hidden talents among youths of the State.
“We believe that if government, organisations and other spirited individuals will invest in the sporting sector, issues of unemployment will be addressed in this country.
” It behoves therefore on us as sports writers and agenda setters to tell government what they need to do if they are not doing it. One of our visions is to ensure that we organise activities that will address issues that affect the youths.
” We are organising our SWAN week on the 26th of August , 2024 and have decided to name one of the sports after you, which is Table Tennis”, he said.
He, therefore appreciated the Bishop for touching the lives of the less privileged in the society through the provision of relief materials to cushion the effects of their suffering and urged him to sustain the gesture .
Responding, Bishop Jatau congratulated the newly elected leaders of SWAN in the State and urged them to continue to initiate policies that would develop the sports sector.
He also called on SWAN members to educate the public about the need to promote unity among the diverse ethnic groups in the state, citing sports as a global unifier and described SWAN as tools that enhance sports development.
The humanitarian worker and cleric, Archbishop Jatau explained that his ministry was committed to lifting the youths out of poverty through various skills acquisition programmes such as tailoring, hair dressing catering and baking and making of beads, bags and shoes among others.
” Apart from spreading the words of God, we engage in various skills acquisition programmes and sporting activities and what we do here is service to humanity. We are taking the unemployed out of the streets.
” Sport creates employment opportunities for the youths and if the government and private sectors can invest in sports, I think unemployment will be a thing of the past in this country.
“We have a football club in our Benue State branch of this church. We have a Table Tennis team, a football club here in Abuja too . Thus, apart from preaching,
to solve unemployment problems in this country, we as a church we must contribute our quota to the development of our community.”
He, therefore pledged his commitment to partner with the association to move sports to a greater heights.
While speaking on other national issues, the Archbishop urged the government to launch programmes that will combat hunger head-on rather than providing palliatives that don’t always reach the intended audience while speaking on other national issues.
“Palliatives is not the solution to hunger,it is an indication of a failed state,so it is better we sincerely look for ways we handle this problem in the interest of our people”, he concluded.