By Emmanuel Emeka
On a sunny December afternoon in Jos, Plateau State, the cheers from a football pitch told only half the story.
Beyond the tackles, goals and celebrations at Mees Palace Academy, something deeper was unfolding. For dozens of adolescents from underserved communities, football was no longer just a game. It had become a doorway into a future shaped by skills, technology and purpose.
This was the heart of Football Meets Tech: Goals for Skills, an initiative of the Kavod Relief Initiative KRI, implemented in partnership with the Guardian Initiative for Community Development GICD on December 20, 2025.
Football as a bridge, not a destination
At its centre was a simple but powerful idea: meet young people where they are and lead them to where they can be.
Founder and Chief Servant of Kavod Relief Initiative, Mr. Ransomed Chibueze, says the programme grew directly from years of working with adolescents who are often left behind by formal systems.
“I’m a fitness person and everything I do is drawn from the interactions that I have got physically. One of the prevalent issues these adolescents face is that most of them don’t have access to basic or formal education and what this means is they are unable to contribute meaningfully to the society,”Chibueze explained.
For many of these young people, returning to school is no longer realistic due to age limits and structural barriers within the national education system. Yet, Chibueze noticed something consistent: their love for sports, especially football.
“Among these we also have people who do love sports, who do love football, so we thought that football can be a good entry point to other services,” he said.
Rather than seeing football as an end in itself, Kavod Relief Initiative began to see it as a bridge.
“So one of our key strategies is using sports as an entry point to other services. So basically it’s using sports to facilitate entry into tech and digital services and ensuring that they are empowered to be able to contribute meaningfully to the society even though they were not able to go through the four walls of a formal school,” Chibueze said.
Why skills, not cash
One of the defining features of the Goals for Skills programme was its decision to move away from traditional cash prizes.
Instead, participants received laptops, scholarships, mentorship and access to digital skills training.
According to Chibueze, “For cash prizes you can’t really control what you do with it.
“Yes, it can meet a need, but replacing it with skills which is basically the tech and other digital skills like software engineering, product management, front end developers, back end and all of that means that they are able to learn a skill that it’s going to help them contribute meaningfully to the society.”
For Chibueze, the goal goes beyond employability. It is about restoring belief.
“So basically we are saying their dreams are valid. Even though they don’t have the funding or resources or didn’t have access to basic education, they are able to learn skills that help them become better humans in the society,” he said.
He added that the approach also helps keep adolescents away from harmful alternatives.
“Instead of going to hawk or engage in social vices that would impact them harmfully, they are now able to learn better skills and contribute meaningfully to the society.”
Catching them at the right time
Adolescence, according to Chibueze, is the most critical stage of intervention.
He pointed to challenges such as teenage pregnancy, drug abuse and school dropout, noting that even children from homes with resources sometimes fall through the cracks.
He said, “Adolescence is basically the make or break point for most humans.
“Most people don’t recover from decisions they take during that particular age.
“That’s why we have targeted adolescence because we know this is a critical period in their development.
“Meeting them at this point and helping them and guiding them to make better life choices means that we would have less social vices and more meaningful adults in the future.”
Government perspective: discipline, protection and skills
The Plateau State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development lent its voice to the initiative through the Director of Child Development, Mr. Dombin Sunday, who described the programme as timely and strategic.
“To catch the little ones, it is at this age, the younger ages, that we groom them to be something in the society,” he said.
Drawing from Proverbs 22:6, Sunday stressed that discipline and early guidance shape responsible adults.
“When you train a child in the way he should go, as he grows, he will be able to cope. When you give him or her responsibility, a task, they will be able to manage it,” he said.
He also highlighted the importance of skills for girls and vulnerable children.
“When they have a skill, even if white collar jobs are not available, they will be able to stand on their own. That is why skill acquisition is good for the girl child,” Sunday said, while acknowledging that boys too face abuse, even if at lower rates.
On collaboration, he noted that government alone cannot do everything.
“That is why CSOs like this come in. We have budgetary provisions for women, the girl child and the vulnerable, and we are partnering with organisations like this,” he said.
Why the partnership works
For the Executive Director of Guardian Initiative for Community Development, Ubangari Donald Bitkwoet, partnering with Kavod Relief Initiative was a natural fit.
“Our objectives and priorities are aligned, especially concerning children and adolescent development in underserved communities,” he said.
What stood out most for him was the football meets tech model.
“Football has its own purpose in terms of social and emotional development of children and also leadership and followership.
“On the other hand, tech prepares them for a digital future. The world is moving from analogue to digital,” Bitkwoet said.
Introducing children to technology early, he added, gives them an advantage.
“It gives them an edge in terms of their ability to learn, adapt, be employable and solve contemporary and future problems.”
Community voices and visible impact
On the community impact, Community Leader of Angwan Rukuba, representative of the community leader, Indelible Joshua Ayiki, said unity was the most visible outcome.
“The unity of the children is a paramount issue here,” he said. “They mingle freely, enjoy the event and everybody mingles with one another as normal.”
As a parent and guardian, he described the initiative as long awaited.
“We have been looking for opportunities like this. This initiative has given us the opportunity to bring out the talent in the children, and I pray that it will continue in the community,” he said.
Lessons from football and life beyond the pitch
Former Nigerian international footballer, Mr. Terry Envoh, brought a personal dimension to the conversation.
Having walked the path from grassroots football to the national team and later faced career ending injury, he stressed the importance of life beyond football.
He said, “Football is a short time career. You can never play football forever.
“Acquiring skills is the best. If anything happens, you can fall back on it.”
Envoh encouraged young players to look beyond the pitch, describing skills, especially tech, as a safety net for the future.
Beyond goals and trophies
At the end of the tournament, Team 1, tagged End Violence Against Children, emerged winners and received ₦200,000, while Team 4, Say No to Drug Abuse, finished second with ₦100,000. Scholarships, laptops and mentorship opportunities were awarded to outstanding participants.
Yet, the true victory lay beyond trophies and cash. It was in the quiet confidence of adolescents who, perhaps for the first time, could imagine a future where their love for football leads not to a dead end, but to digital skills, dignity and meaningful contribution.
As Chibueze put it, the vision is simple and ambitious at the same time: raising young people who can enjoy sports, learn skills, avoid social vices and “contribute meaningfully to the society.”
In Jos, that future has already begun.
