Ogun State Government has  paid a total of N1.2m to all its medal
winners at the 18th National Sports Festival, tagged “Eko 2012’’, concluded on
Sunday recently in Lagos.

The gesture was in fulfilment
of its pledge to Team Ogun before the games that medal winners will be rewarded
on return.

The 15 gold medallists got
N30, 000 each, amounting to N450, 000, while 22 silver medalists were rewarded
N20, 000 each, totalling N440, 000.

The 31 bronze medalists were
awarded N10, 000 each which summed up to N310, 000.

The Commissioner for Youth and
Sports, Olugbenga Otenuga, said the gesture was a way of thanking the athletes
for doing the state proud.

Otenuga
said it was also to encourage others to make effort to benefit from such
gesture in the nearest future.

He
praised the athletes for giving their best and noted that many of them were
grassroots athletes discovered during the recent State Grassroots Games.

“They
competed brilliantly against professionals even though they are fairly new in
the arena,” he said.

The
commissioner advised them to continue with their training for better
performances in the future.

He
restated the state government’s resolve to always encourage the development of
sports at the grassroots.

Ogun State came 7th on the
medals table with 15 gold, 22 silver and 31 bronze medals.