For coming second in the just concluded National Sports Festival (NSF), codenamed, Edo 2020, the Edo State Government on Friday night, announced a cash reward of N59,650,000 for the state’s athletes, the Edo Team, for their performances at the sports fiesta.
Announcing the cash reward at a reception organised for the sportsmen and women, Governor Godwin Obaseki, however, said that the reward for the Paralympics contingent of the team was going to be personal gifts from him to the physically challenged athletes who did the state proud at the sporting outings.
Governor Obaseki, while appraising the sterling performances of the Edo Team, added that the state could have won the overall medal table was it to spend money, pointing out that there was no amount of cash doled out on the athletes that could be enough appreciation for their superlative outings at the fiesta.
He, therefore, announced that the 129 gold medals won at the event would attract a cash reward of N250,000 each; the 104 silver medals, N150,000 each and the 108 bronze medals, N100,000 cash reward each, totalling the figure of N59,650.
“This reception is organised to say thank you for making us proud and for bringing sports back to its native land. You came out and brought the best out of all of us. The design of the logo and the mascot of the Festival showed the creativity of our youths. We thank God that the state hosted the Festival in spite of all the obstacles posed by the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. The organising team led by may able deputy, Comrade Philip Shaibu, spent countless hours and days preparing for the Festival, the best of the National Sports Festival, ever held in Nigeria,” Obaseki enthused.
The governor commended Edo Team for living up to the spirit of national unity, which underlined the creation of the NSF shortly after the civil war, to inculcate national unity and cohesion among the citizens of the Federation. He, therefore, urged them and the entire youth of the nation “not to be despair by what is happening now but to keep the hope alive and not to be disturbed; but to speak up and keep Nigeria one. We need events like this to bring us together because we are one nation.”
“We cannot pay enough for what you have done. But we encourage you to continue to train by using the world-class facilities provided in this stadium so that you can show surprises in Asaba next year”, the governor admonished the athletes.
Speaking earlier, the deputy governor, Shaibu, who doubled as the Chairman, Local Organising Committee, LOC, of the Festival, thanked Governor Obaseki for reposing confidence in him to lead the organising team.
Shaibu, while presenting Edo Team to the governor intoned that “they are not mercenaries but all indigenes of Edo State and not from Kenya. 85 per cent of the team were in Abuja where we came third. We decided to make Edo proud and we looked at the sports where we did not do well in Abuja and improved on them”.
The deputy governor noted with pride, the facilities at the rebuilt Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, venue of the NSF and the appreciation party, and concluded that most of the facilities “are first in Nigeria and first in Africa. For instance, the tartan track here can only be found in Edo and Algeria. The gymnastic hall is a state of the art facility and if Nigeria must do well in gymnastics, it has to train here at Ogbemudia Stadium. Edo has set a standard. We want to assure you that Edo will be the state to produce athletes for Nigeria”.
While noting that throughout the fiesta, no single incident was recorded, as all the 118 mobile handsets that were declared missing while the Festival lasted, were all recovered and returned to their owners, Shaibu singled out the Edo vigilante Squad for their diligence and seven personnel of the Medical Corps, whom he recommended for employment into the mainstream civil service.
Welcoming dignitaries to the reception which held at the tennis court of the stadium, the Secretary to the State Government, Mr Osarodion Ogie, said that the idea behind the reception “is for the state governor and the entire Edo people to show appreciation and thank our able sportsmen and women, who displayed a high spirit of sportsmanship and did Edo proud at the 2020 National sports Festival.
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