Edo State took the 3rd position with 47 gold medals.

At a colourful closing ceremony held on Sunday at the Abuja National Stadium, President Mohammadu Buhari congratulated Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State for his administration’s commitment to sports development which made it possible for Team Delta to emerge victorious at the festival.

Sports men and women from all the states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory  competed for laurels at the competition.

The President who was represented at the ceremony by the Minister of Sports, Mr Solomon Dalung, described the performance of Delta State as amazing, bagging a total of 352 medals – 88 silver, 101 bronze to win in the championship against Rivers State that got a total of 194 medals.

It would be recalled that Governor Okowa motivated Team Delta to victory when he made a mouth-watering offer of N1 million per gold, N500, 000 per silver and N250, 000 per bronze medals won at the championship.

Elated Governor Okowa who was personally present with some members of the state executive council to cheer up Team Delta, stated that investing in sporting events should not be toyed with as it does not only keep the youths positively engaged but a money-spinner.

In an interview, Governor Okowa congratulated Team Delta for emerging victorious despite being the defending champions.

According to him, “We are replicating what our late father, Dr Osaigbovo Ogbemudia taught us in old Bendel, we are not only developing sports facilities, we are doing all that we can to catch them young; we have the Principals and the Headmaster’s Cup and from January, we shall have athletics championship that will involve the secondary and primary schools in the state.”

“Beyond that, we will encourage the young once to go into the future with the determination to succeed, we will continue to invest in sports, we congratulate Team Delta, they did very well and we are proud of them,” he said.

At the closing ceremony, Edo State won the hosting right for the next edition of the championship which will hold in 2020.

Renowned musical exponents added colour to the event that also saw the display of fireworks.

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Nigerian Minister of Sports, Mr Solomon Dalung who presented the award on Sunday shortly before the finals of the 19th National Sports Festival, tagged Abuja 2018 to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, observed that Delta State had blazed the trail in the promotion of continental championships.

Dalung who listed the achievements of Delta State in the area of sports development since the emergence of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to include the hosting of the Senior Africa Athletics  Championship, emphasised that Delta State had continued to dominate in sporting championships and had also contributed immensely to the provision of manpower for the Nigerian sports industry .

At the award ceremony which took place at the Abuja National Stadium, Lagos and Rivers states also received awards for promoting Sports Tourism and Promoting Wrestling in Nigeria respectively.

Governor Okowa on behalf of the award recipients, said, “we urge other states to compete favourably because, without competition you are not able to excel the way you ought to; we don’t want to become a lazy state; because, we are winning, we want people to compete with us so that we can do better and break new records; even in the near future, we encourage many more states to compete favourably.”

While congratulating the Ministry of Sports for organising the festival, Governor Okowa amidst applause, stated, “there is no doubt that sports development is very important in our nation; with all the energy in our youths, they need to be guided in the right direction; for us as a state government, we believe that the youths must be engaged continually in sports activities.”

“Sports is a unifying factor for us particularly in Delta State that is multi-ethnic; it also helps the youths to be disciplined,” he stated.

Governor Okowa who was apparently elated by the performance of the Delta State contingent to the sports festival continued, “we must also begin to encourage our children to engage in sporting activities because of the economic factor involved; if we are able to get the young ones not just to win laurels for our nation, Nigeria but, help themselves and others who are close to them; it is important to put a lot of money into sports development because of the benefits.”

He disclosed that he was inspired to invest in sports development by the achievements recorded by General Samuel Ogbemudia when he was the governor of the defunct Bendel State.

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