Mimiko rewards athletes four years after EKO 2012 NSF

Four years after the Eko 2012 National Sports Festival, the Ondo State government has rewarded the 300 athletes that made the state proud at the event, with each of the gold medallists getting N150, 000.

The state also gave each silver medal winner N100, 000, while bronze medalists got N75, 000.The coaches and the teams were not left out in the largesse.

Speaking while presenting the cheques to the beneficiaries at the International Event Centre (Dome) in Akure at the weekend, Governor Olusegun Mimiko affirmed that his administration’s investment in sports has not been in vain, stressing that government will continue to promote sports’ development in the best interest of the athletes and the state.

Dr. Mimiko noted that his administration’s investment in sports for youths’ empowerment was a deliberate effort to raise the standard of sporting activities and athletes in the state.

He stressed that irrespective of the current economic downturn, his administration was poised to developing sports and urged the youths to embrace sporting activities for a healthy living and money making.

The governor, who used the medium to solicit support for the Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Mr Eyitayo Jegede, in the November 26 gubernatorial election in the state, urged them to begin house to house campaign for the PDP flag-bearer.

He said the delay in honouring the awardees was not a contempt but as a result of the competition for the little available resources in the state, adding that the sacrifices of the awardees and youths of Ondo State would lead to greater commitment of his administration to sports development.

In his address, the State Commissioner for Youth and Sports Development, Mr. Dayo Awude, thanked the governor for honouring the awardees and used the avenue to declare that all the sports lovers in the state would go anywhere the governor goes in the November governorship election in Ondo State.

Earlier in his welcome address, the chairman of the Ondo State Sports Council, Comrade Olugbenga Jegede, said for Governor Mimiko to have made the gesture despite the lean resources of Ondo State and Nigeria in general was a demonstration of his love for sports development in the state.