Ekeji Challenges Sportsmen, Commends Delta Govt

The Director-General of the National Sports Commission, Dr Patrick Ekeji, has described sports as a money spinning career.

Ekeji said this in Asaba at a reception organised by the Delta Government to honour the state’s contingent

to the 17th National Sports Festival held last month in Port Harcourt.

According to him, some sportsmen receive money equivalent to what some state executives receive.

He said that unless the athletes remained focused and dedicated they would not get to greater levels and advised them to exhibit humility, saying “humility pays.

“Do not allow your success get into your head because humility pays.” The director-general also implored those of them who had no formal education to obtain such education in spite of their stardom, harping on the need to always expand capacity through training and retraining programmes.

He commended the Delta Government for its support to sports, saying that without the support the athletes would be wasted.

He noted that since the creation of the state, the commission had always looked up to Delta to provide the bulk of sports men and officials for both national and international competitions.

The director-general appealed to the Delta Government to refurbish the College of Physical Education in the state. Meanwhile Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan has directed the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education to revive schools sports in all primary and secondary schools in the state.

Uduaghan said that there was the need to revive schools sports in the spirit of “catch them young” with a view to training them for future sports challenges.

He noted that during the Governor Osaigbovo Ogbamudia era in the then Bendel, athletes combined education in schools with sports. The governor said the motive was to change the strategy of the state in discovering, selecting, training and fielding athletes in future sports competitions.

“We have the facilities, men and women, as well as the manpower to achieve this.

“So with effect from the next academic session, we will introduce school cup and from the pool we get athletes that will be going for competitions,” he said.

The governor also said that bronze medal winners would receive N200,000 each while those who did not win any medal got N50,000 each.