Dev’t control engaged staff in sports activity to promote physical fitness

Favour Ishember, Abuja

In an effort to make the Department a more friendly atmosphere and promote the physical fitness of its staff, the Federal Capital Territory Development Control Department has engaged it’s Staff in an intra-departmental football tournament.

Director of the Department, TPL Mukhtar Galadima, who made this known on Monday, during the kickoff of the 2023 intra-departmental football tournament of the department, said contrary to the hostile government agency it has been portrayed to be, the Department is also about engagements, friendliness and family bonding.

Galadima said development control is not just about demolitions and enforcements, as the tournament is also an opportunity to promote the physical fitness of its staff to enable them effectively carry out their functions.

According to the director, the tournament is also an opportunity to promote the physical fitness of its staff to enable them effectively carry out their functions.

In his words, “As development control department, it is not always about demolition, sometimes, you also talk about recreation. That’s why we’re doing this.

“We also want our men to keep fit and as you can see from the artistry display of the footballers, we have seen players that can make a very good team for the nation.

“Right now, we are trying to change the narratives. Development control is not just about demolitions and enforcements, it is also about engagements, friendliness and family bonding. So that’s why we are trying to reiterate it with this football tournament.”

He stressed that :”Sport plays a very important role in our activities but apart from that, we also include medical outreach. We make sure that all staff are tested to find their health stakes and well-being, then before the end of the year, award and price giving.

“As I said, in the beginning of the match that this is a family affair, not a do or die, that we must win at all costs, so that we don’t go and injure ourselves.

“We also have a policy in the department where we come out for fitness every end of the month and we walk around zone six, which is where our own office is located, and then after that we do some aerobics.

Reacting to whether the department was putting demolition on hold till after the tournament, the Director said each activity is independent of the other.

“This one is something else, and that’s something else and none of them stops each other.

“Is the second edition of the intra-departmental football tournament to mark the end of year activities. Towards the end of every year, we have series of activities to give glory to God that the year is ending on a good note. So that’s why we try to find time to relax and unwind.

“We are also trying to expand this type of recreational activities and make it wider to be inter-dependent within the FCT Administration setup, as well as the FCDA setup. So that there will be a kind of friendliness amongst staff. For now, it is us and us alone which consists of six divisions. He said.