The director-general of Nigeria’s National Sports Commission (NSC), Honourable Bukola Olopade has handed out a total sum of N5m to two secondary school students in Lagos, Sports247 reports.
Olopade did the presentation at the start of what he called a ‘thank you and motivational tour’ of schools that have produced young sports talents in the past year, all of who the DG said need to be recognized and rewarded.
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His first stop was at The Grange School in Ikeja, Lagos, where he made presentations to two highly promising swimmers, Aidan Dumuije-Abili and Tofunmi Ibidapo, as part of the NSC’s new policy of recognizing young talents.
While also stressing the need to encourage integrity in age-grade sports and change the narrative about youth development in Nigeria, Olopade presented Aidan with N3m and gave N2m to Tofunmi.
During the presentations, Olopade recalled that Tofunmi Ibidapo proved to be unstoppable en route to clinching gold, silver and bronze medals across both individual and relay events at the 2025 Africa Zone 2 Swimming Championship.
Similarly, 14-year-old Aidan Dumuije-Abili set five new Africa Zone 2 records and was voted was voted the championship’s Most Valuable Junior Athlete, after winning eight medals – six gold, one silver, one bronze.
“The place of grassroots must be at the very top. We are not joking with grassroots development. It’s high time we started saying thank you to our young budding talents.
“That encouragement will inspire millions of young Nigerians who are intentional about using sport as a tool for development,” Olopade declared emphatically.
, Honourable Bukola Olopade has handed out a total sum of N5m to two secondary school students in Lagos, Sports247 reports.){kind=link}