Hope4Girls Africa has empowered 160 teenage girls with leadership and basketball skills at it’s just-concluded national basketball academy in Lagos.
Founder of Hope4Girls Africa, Mobolaji Akiode, said the camp, which holds annually, is aimed at mentoring young girls to develop and utilise their basketball skills to enable them tap into abundant opportunities the game offers.
She added that it will also enable the young girls compete with their peers internationally.
Speaking with Fever Pitch yesterday, she said a group of 60 girls aged 11 to 15, who were selected from schools in Borno, Delta, Ogun, Lagos and Ghana, among others, were hosted at the Indoor Sports Hall of the National Stadium in Lagos for the four-day camp.
Akiode added that another set of 100 girls selected from Lagos state yesterday joined the 60 girls at the Princess Academy Clinic it also organised at Rowe Park in Yaba, where they thrilled the public with their skills.
She said: “My goal is to empower as many young girls as possible, so that when they grow up, they can empower others. The game has opened many opportunities for me. We need to let people know that Nigerians are talented in all sports, not only in football.
“I have about seven girls that I mentored who are currently in the United States, studying there; they are in the universities and secondary schools. That’s the most fun part for me – working for the girls.”
She further added: “It’s been a great fun mentoring them and seeing them grown up into young women; it not only about basketball perse but about life and seeing the females doing great things in life.”
