The chairman of Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) FCT chapter, Bunmi Haruna, has commended the Minister of Federal Capital Territory Administration for hosting and rewarding athletes who won laurels at the Edo 2020 National Sports Festival.
This is a sequel to an earlier announcement by the minister of State for FCTA, Dr Ramatu Aliyu, at the FCT award night held in Abuja on August 19, 2021.
- U20 Championships: Team Nigeria wins 4 gold, finishes 3rd overall
- You lack integrity to govern Anambra, ZLP tells Soludo
The minister announced a N400,000 reward for gold medalists, N250,000 for silver medalists and 150,000 for bronze medalists.
In a statement, Haruna said the reward would go a long way in motivating Team FCT to win more medals in future games.
Team FCT won a total of 37 medals, made up of six gold, 15 silver and 16 bronze to finish 15th on the log.
FCT was represented at the festival held in Benin City by 261 athletes and officials.
Haruna commended the Minister’s gesture while seeing it as a welcome development, adding that it would go a long way in motivating Team FCT to win more medals in future games.
He said, “I want to use this occasion to assure the FCT administration of the support of SWAN in sports development and coverage of events in the Territory,” the FCT SWAN chairman said.
“The Permanent Secretary who represented the minister at the event also deserves our commendation.
“I also want to give credit to the Director of Sports, Luka Istifanu, and his team for the amount of hard work they put up in preparation and participation of Team FCT at the festival.
“We, as the watchdogs of sports in this Territory, are impressed but there are rooms for improvement. To the athletes and officials, I say kudos.”
He urged the FCT administration to give Team FCT more support to have an improved outing at the National Youth Games in Ilorin coming up later in the year.