Safeguarding of Children and Youth in the Niger Delta - CSED Promote Best Strategy

As part of their promoting the social development and general well-being of school age children and youths in the Niger Delta area, CSED (Community Sports and Educational Development) is to include “Safeguarding” as one of the topics that would be addressed at a two day seminar that will hold on 4th and 5th October 2017, at Udu Local Government Area headquarters in Delta State.

This seminar is going to be attended by 50 Game Masters and Mistresses from both private and public schools. The remarkable thing about this seminar is that it is going to be free for all the attendees.

All over the world, the safety and protection of children and youths who take part in sport is given priority attention by sport organisers and federations. As a result, educational and sporting officials who are deemed to breach their position of trust are liable to be dismissed from their jobs and could also be imprisoned. A recent example is the sacking of the Manager (Mark Sa  mpson) of the England National Woman Football Team, for his engaging in behaviour which the FA in England found to be inappropriate and unacceptable.

The Safeguarding lecture is going to be delivered by an experienced Social Worker practitioner, who will put Game Master and Mistresses through their paces by making them realise the importance of “Safeguarding” in the educational and sporting environment. The goal of “Safeguarding” is to ensure that every child matters as well as it is everyone’s responsibility to ensure that the educational and sporting environment is free from all form of abuse.

The Udu event is the second in the series of taster seminars that CSED intends to hold in 2017, as a prelude to their rolling out quarterly training in 2018, in some selected sports (football, table tennis, basketball, athletics, athletics and netball.  CSED which is an NGO partner of the Nigeria School Sports Federation (NSFF) have in the past worked with Channels Television and the United Nations Office of Sports for Development and Peace in promoting literacy among school age children in Nigeria. In August 2016, CSED commissioned the graphic comic, “Nigerian Golden Legends.”


Ex-Super Eagles international, Edema Fuludu is CSED Co-ordinator in Nigeria. Mr Fuludu stated that having benefited from combining football and a university education in the 1980s in Nigeria; he is motivated to support this programme in his spare time, as he sees it as an opportunity to develop the Game Masters and Mistresses at the grassroots of Nigerian sports.

 Furthermore, he stated that the Game Masters and Mistresses are the first point of contact where pupils are provided with formal sporting education in Nigeria. As such, having a good basic grounding in any sport in primary school would make it easier for the secondary school Game Masters/Mistresses to build on a good foundation. In Nigeria due to lack of access to a good Physical Education training, it is not unusual for some students not to be able to have a basic understanding of some sports, apart from football.

Mr Edema Fuludu stated that CSED intends to continue to provide their seminars at no cost to their selected attendees as part of their own contribution to empowering Teachers, especially Game Mistresses whose pathway to career advancement and attending fee paying training courses could be affected by their care responsibility to their families.

Since CSED intend to train more than five hundred (500) Game Masters and Mistresses in 2018, Mr Edema Fuludu stated that he would urge corporate organisations and Foundations to provide any kind of support (financial and material) to ensure that CSED continues to play their small part in developing the educational and sporting talents of Nigerian children and youths.

 It would be recall that in February 2017, CSED held a similar seminar in Benin City that was attended by 60 (sixty) Game Master and Mistresses and was facilitated by renowned Nigerian football coach; Alabi Assien.