By Raymond Nwaduba
Special Assistant to Delta State Governor on Sports, Hon. Lucky Sunday Nkeki has sounded a note of warning to other states dreaming to dethrone Delta state from her enviable position as the pacesetter as far as sports is concerned in Nigeria to have a rethink because the State is not ready to relinquish the position any time soon.
According to the Delta Sports Council (DSC) board member, who is attached to the Ministry of Basic and Secondary education, Delta state will rule Nigeria sports for the next 30 to 50 years considering huge investments by the state in sports with a conscious and deliberate efforts geared towards ensuring that the state develops through sports and “I don’t think any state can come close to this”.
The ex-footballer cum administrator is confident that the state’s blueprint on sports is capable of keeping her in pole position or dominant driving seat in Nigeria sports for a couple of decades to come irrespective of the challenge that will come from other states.
Speaking in an interview on Nigeria Sports Centre (NSC) WhatsApp platform, Nkeki stated that the state’s huge successes with Zenith Bank Principal’s Cup for secondary schools Basic 1-3 and SS1-2 knowing that the SS3 students are preparing for their WAEC examinations, the Headmaster’s Cup for primary schools, the Schools Sports Festival for athletics and the revamping of otherwise moribund Inter-House Sports competitions in schools in the state, portends that Delta is set to implode sports-wise and they will not only shock Nigeria but the world.
“With all sense of modesty and no disrespect to other states in Nigeria, Delta State will continue to rule sports in the country. Be it in football, athletics, you name it for the next 30 to 50 years.
” I say this because “the policies, strategies and the facilities are all there to ensure the state continues to remain dominant in sports in the country.
” Again, it may also interest you to know that “Delta state has the highest number of sporting facilities in the country. We have close to 14 stadia in Oleh, Warri, Ughelli, Ogwashi Uku, Agbor, Asaba, Sapele, Ukwuani, Iselle Uku etc and these facilities are being used by our athletes.
” Then if you look at our records at previous competitions he continued, you will realise that it speaks volume. “We have won the last four editions of the National Sports Festival in Nigeria and if not for the Corona Virus pandemic we would have still won the Edo 2020 edition that was put on hold due to the restriction on sporting activities.
“The Youth Sports Festival that usually holds in Ilorin is our birthright. We have also won it four times and still counting.
“It’s our birthright in the sense that we have a programme, the Schools Sports Festival where we churn out all these talents.
“The programme is for secondary and primary schools in Delta. Luckily we have just finished the last edition before the lockdown started where a lot of talents were discovered”.
“For now, most of these talents are under scholarships from the state government at different levels, tertiary, secondary or primary schools”, he concluded.
