Sports
Ekeji Challenges Sportsmen, Commends Delta Govt
The Director-General of the National Sports Commission, Dr Patrick Ekeji, has described sports as a money spinning career.
Ekeji said this in Asaba at a reception organised by the Delta Government to honour the state’s contingent
to the 17th National Sports Festival held last month in Port Harcourt.
According to him, some sportsmen receive money equivalent to what some state executives receive.
He said that unless the athletes remained focused and dedicated they would not get to greater levels and advised them to exhibit humility, saying “humility pays.
“Do not allow your success get into your head because humility pays.” The director-general also implored those of them who had no formal education to obtain such education in spite of their stardom, harping on the need to always expand capacity through training and retraining programmes.
He commended the Delta Government for its support to sports, saying that without the support the athletes would be wasted.
He noted that since the creation of the state, the commission had always looked up to Delta to provide the bulk of sports men and officials for both national and international competitions.
The director-general appealed to the Delta Government to refurbish the College of Physical Education in the state. Meanwhile Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan has directed the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education to revive schools sports in all primary and secondary schools in the state.
Uduaghan said that there was the need to revive schools sports in the spirit of “catch them young” with a view to training them for future sports challenges.
He noted that during the Governor Osaigbovo Ogbamudia era in the then Bendel, athletes combined education in schools with sports. The governor said the motive was to change the strategy of the state in discovering, selecting, training and fielding athletes in future sports competitions.
“We have the facilities, men and women, as well as the manpower to achieve this.
“So with effect from the next academic session, we will introduce school cup and from the pool we get athletes that will be going for competitions,” he said.
The governor also said that bronze medal winners would receive N200,000 each while those who did not win any medal got N50,000 each.
Hon Dike who spoke with sports journalists shortly after the flag off the 2024 edition of Chairman’s Football Unity Tournament at Botem Tai in Tai LGA, said the tournament is an annual event to promote peace and unity in Tai as well identify budding talents in the area for global competition.
The opening ceremony of the tournament was more like a carnival was witnessed by huge crowd including prominent indigenes of Ogoni Kingdom, sports lovers and people from all works of life.
The LGA boss revealed that special sports committee will be setup in the area to work out modalities to strengthen sports development in Tai.
He advised the participants in the tournament from various wards in the LGA to play the game by the rules and conduct themselves in a peaceful and orderly manner and use the opportunity to showcase their talents.
Hon Dike further disclosed that his administration will also give priority attention to skills development among the youth to enhance their human capacity and promote enterprise development in the area.
Earlier in his address the Chairman of Tai LGA Football Council, Elder Wisdom Gorgor said the annual football competition has been a unifying factor in Tai LGA that need to be sustained to forge more unity and development in the area.
He urged the participants to see the competition as an opportunity to embrace football as a full career and earn sustainable livelihood.
Elder Gorgor who commended the Chairman of Tai LGA, Hon Dike for his visionary leadership and tremendous development achievements recorded in the LGA under his administration, appealled to the Chairman to build a Mini Sports Stadium in the area to promote sporting activities.
The training was held at the Sani Abacha Stadium Indoor Basketball Court in Kano last Saturday.
According to the Vice President and Head of NBA Nigeria, Gbemisola Abudu, the event was part of the league’s commitment to growing broader basketball ecosystem in Nigeria and making the game more accessible across the country.
“Our first Jr. NBA clinic in Kano speaks to our commitment to growing the game in Nigeria and creating more opportunities for boys and girls to learn and play the game,” Abudu said.
“Nigeria has a rich basketball history and abundance of talent, which is evident every time you watch an NBA game. We look forward to continuing to engage with basketball stakeholders, business leaders and members of the community to further the game’s reach and impact on young people around the country,” she added.
The 2024 basketball initiative clinics of NBA Nigeria also included the league’s inaugural Jr. NBA elite camp for 150 boys and age-16 girls held at the American International School in Lagos in July.
Others include the NBA’s building of 1,000 courts in Africa over the next decade, Nigeria’s Festival Coins and Salubata named the top two winning businesses at NBA Africa Triple-Double Accelerator’s inaugural Demo Day in New York City held last September, and the third edition of “NBA Meets Art,” a curated installation celebrating basketball through the lens of Nigerian art and culture as part of West Africa’s premier art fair Art X Lagos, held in November.
Central to this vision is the federation’s investment in capacity building, evident in the just-concluded one-week Level 1 Badminton World Federation (BWF) Coaching Course, which marked a significant milestone for Nigerian badminton.
Held in Abuja, the course brought together 13 young coaches from across Nigeria. The last time such a course was held in the country was in 2017, making this a historic and transformative step.
The training was facilitated by the Badminton Confederation of Africa (BCA) in partnership with the Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN) and conducted by Dr. Ahmed Radah, the BCA Development Manager.
Radah, impressed by the talent he witnessed, praised Nigeria’s potential.
“Nigeria is blessed with immense talent and a strong badminton tradition. I believe this country has what it takes to dominate on the global stage,” he remarked.
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