BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
The Osun State Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Yemi Lawal has revealed that the State’s Sports Festival scheduled to begin this month will gulp over a hundred million naira.
Lawal, made the disclosure during a press conference at the Ministry of Information and Strategy, Abere on Tuesday.
He said that Gov Gboyega Oyetola had given his nod for the event to kick-start, while everything had been put in place for the successful organisation and financing of the event.
The Commissioner explained that the event was for youth between the ages of 15-29 and that it was borne out of the desire to discover fresh talents across the nooks and crannies of the state, with a view to nurturing them to stardom with follow-up programs that would empower them to become useful for themselves and the society.
He said, “This festival will give all youth between the age range of 15 and 29 the opportunity to showcase their sports prowess and those that are identified will be trained and nurtured to stardom.
“The festival will parade athletes in 31 sports which include athletics, football tennis, volleyball, boxing, weightlifting, golf, all para-sports amongst others.
“The festival will be held in 3 phases of Local, Zonal and State while all Local Government Councils will present at least 100 athletes at the festival which will climaxes on August 27, 2021.
“The government will spend hundreds of millions of naira on the event while sub- committees, headed by seasoned professionals have been set up to oversee some important areas of the event such as accommodation, feeding, accreditation, technical, facilities and equipment and so on.”
On the facilities to be used for the event, Lawal stated that, “we are aware of the dearth in sports facilities but arraignment has been made to make use of facilities in other towns such as cricket pitch and swimming pool at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife and those in other towns.
In their remarks, Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Funke Egbemode, represented by the Coordinating Director, of the Ministry, Bukola Aderibigbe and the Coordinating Director, Ministry of Youth and Sports, Taiwo Oladunjoye described sports as a unifying factor, adding that the Festival was a unique one which would go a long way in curbing youth restiveness and also reducing the rate of youth unemployment in the state.
