Eight-year-old Ayomide Aitija, a pupil of New State Primary School, Mushin, Lagos and Ayomide Adeniyi, a student of Ijesha Junior Secondary School Lagos, have received full scholarships to study at Greensprings School.
The two gifted young football talents outperformed over 200 other pupils at the 2023 Greensprings/Kanu Football Camp held at Greensprings School, Lekki in Lagos.
Oluranti Bankole, the head of School, Ikoyi Greensprings School, said the 2023 Kanu Football Camp was excellently organised to enable the school to deliver on its promise.
According to Bankole, the school was happy to have two pupils from public schools join the Greensprings School, adding that the new pupils will be provided learning materials and catered for while ensuring that they take their football skills to the next level.
Explaining the decision to offer two pupils the scholarship, Bankole said it was difficult to pick one winner during the competition stage.
“We had two good scholars, who did well in the camp. The initial arrangement was for one scholarship but at the end of the camp, Aitija and Adeniyi scores were too close, so the panel recommended to the school for the additional scholarship, and it was accepted by the management,” she said.
Speaking at the prize-giving ceremony of the 2023 Greensprings Kanu Football Camp recently held in Lagos, Nwankwo Kanu, retired Nigeria footballer and 1996 Olympic football gold medalist, said the partnership with the school would continue to produce scholars and future football stars.
Kanu lauded Greensprings School for the opportunity given to pupils to showcase their talents.
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“The two talents discovered will get full scholarships. Education is important and I know Greensprings School will give them the best of education and will expose them to more football skills,” he said.
Responding after his emergence as the overall best in the camp, Ayomide Aitija, said he came prepared to get the scholarship and promised to do well in his education and football.
“I was expecting to win the scholarship because Greensprings School is one of the best. I am happy to bag the award. I promise to use the scholarship and also improve my football skills. I am so happy to meet Kanu Nwankwo and the foreign coaches. I will take my education and football very seriously. I am looking forward to my education in Greensprings School,” he said.
On his part, Ayomide Adeniyi said he was excited to get a scholarship and pledged not to disappoint his parents.
Adeniyi commended the school and Kanu Nwankwo for giving him and others the chance to hone their football skills, adding that he is looking forward to resuming at Greensprings School.
Dotun Coker, technical chairman of Lagos Football Association lauded the school management for the camp and the award of two scholarships to Aitija and Adeniyi.
Apart from the award of two scholarships, different awards were presented to the 11 best pupils based on their performance in the camp.
Since the inception of the camp, Greensprings School has awarded scholarships to 11 pupils and also trained over 2,000 teachers in public and private schools.
