Udom to kick off second Akwa Ibom Youth Sports Festival

Governor Udom Emmanuel will flag off the second Akwa Ibom State Youth Sports Festival billed for Uyo from March 5 to 10 2018, the organisers have said.

Governor Emmanuel, who is the originator of the festival, will preside over an elaborate opening ceremony that will have the Minister of Sports, Solomon Dalung, as Special Guest of Honour among other invited guests.

The festival torch, which has been on the rounds of all the 31 participating local councils in the state, was received in Onna yesterday by Council chairman, Imo Atat.

The Council boss said he was delighted to be part of a festival that has already broken all the records in terms of grassroots sports development and the discovery of talents.

He thanked Governor Udom Emmanuel for putting the festival in place and promised that “Onna Local Government will shock others this year”.

He was in the company of his Local Organizing Committee members.

The draw ceremony that will officially herald the “hostilities” will be held at the Civil Service auditorium on Thursday, March 1, 2018.

The state’s Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Sir Monday Ebong Uko told the media in Uyo that this year’s festival will definitely be an improvement “on the fantastic event we had last year. This year, His Excellency has approved cash awards to the leading Local Governments who stand to cart home N10m, N5m and N2m respectively to help develop sports infrastructure in their local government councils.”