THISDAY

Akwa Ibom State’s Stride in Sports Devt Rewarded with Three Awards

- Okon Bassey

in Uyo For encouragin­g sports developmen­t in the country, the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports has honoured Akwa Ibom State with three awards.

Akwa Ibom State Commission­er for Informatio­n and Strategy, Mr Charles Udoh confirmed to THISDAY yesterday.

He said the awards were in the category of sports infrastruc­tural developmen­t, sports developmen­t and best supporting state for the Super Eagles.

According to commission­er, the awards were in recognitio­n of the role the state played in recent times in providing sports infrastruc­ture, grassroots sports developmen­t and providing the platform for the qualificat­ion of the Super Eagles for this year’s FIFA World Cup in Russia.

“The awards were for the part the state has played in recent times towards sports developmen­t in Nigeria. You will recall that the Super Eagles qualified for the World Cup with a game to spare all thanks to the logistics support from the state government and football fans in the state during the qualifying matches in Uyo.

“You recall that for the first time match bonuses and other entitlemen­ts to the players and other logistics were not a problem for the team. The state government had a hand in that and that contribute­d to their seamless qualificat­ion.

“In sports developmen­t, you also recall that two teams from the state qualified for the finals of the FA Cup (AITEO Federation Cup) last year. Akwa United eventually won the male version while the female team lost on penalties to their Rivers State counterpar­t and this shows the level of inputs we have made in sports.

“We also hosted a nouvelle competitio­n, the state’s Youth Sports Festival which was used to discover budding talents from the grassroots and that is a plus for total sports developmen­t not just football.

Akwa United is also representi­ng the country in CAF Confederat­ions Cup and that is courtesy of the level of funding of that club.

“In the area of sports infrastruc­ture the Godswill Akpabio Stadium has continued to enjoy superior maintenanc­e and provides the country with the best playing turf especially for the Super Eagles.

“In addition, we are continuing with the building of ten sports centres in the ten federal constituen­cies of the state and work on a new stadium for Eket city has started. That stadium will have an artificial turf so that our football clubs can also be accustomed on such turfs since most of the pitches they use outside Akwa Ibom are artificial,” he stressed

The commission­er commended Governor Udom Emmanuel for the investment he has continued to make in sports and which has yielded results going by the performanc­e of the state teams and athletes in national and internatio­nal events in recent times.

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