Golf as antidote to recession

As Nigeria battles tooth and nail to come out of recession, the Captain of the Ikoyi Golf Club, Lagos, Mr. Bayo Ali has enjoined the authorities to tap into the potentials of the game of golf as to further boost the tourism sector of the country and improve national economy.

Alli, a chartered accountant and businessman, made the call while fielding questions from Weekly Golf Digest in Ibadan on the occasion of a friendly tournament between Ikoyi Golf Club and Ibadan Golf Club held in the Oyo State capital over the weekend.

While urging Nigerian authorities to take good advantage of the teeming international tourists coming to Africa, majority of who have already seen Nigeria as their country of first choice, Alli reeled out the benefits of using the game of golf to benefiting the national economy through inflow of funds “hence the urgent call on the government, corporate bodies and individuals to come round and help in developing the Golf courses across the country to world standard.”

He noted with concern that the game of Golf is grossly underfunded in Nigeria and canvassed that the Government and the corporate bodies can do a lot to further enhance the game just as he emphasized the need to encourage the younger ones in view of the lots of benefits in Golf.

“We need to encourage he younger ones. Golf brings out the gentlemanliness in you. If younger ones can be playing Golf, it makes them better citizens in the sense that it brings out the gentlemanliness and humaneness in them. I wish the Government should encourage this,” Alli said.