Senior Correspondent Comfort Isaac reviews the just concluded sports festival sponsored by NDDC
The maiden edition of the Niger Delta Sports Festival ended in Uyo this week with the 350 athletes going away with hopes for a bright future in a career in sports. The games began on April 1 and closed on 8, 2025 at Uyo Stadium and other venues in the state. The athletes downplayed certain inconveniences like poor remunerations to showcase their prowess. Athletes who expected to be paid N30,000 per day as camping allowance received a paltry N5,000. It’s not clear if their protests on the closing day had changed anything.
Nevertheless, the games unveiled young talents and this calls for Nigerian Sports Commission the talents are groomed to reach their maximum heights so that the whole exercise would be sustained. The event saw about 3,000 athletes for 17 different sports.
During the one-week intensive and highly competitive games, which included football, swimming and long, participants built friendship, fostered unity and good memories that will likely continue to stay with them for a lifetime. At the end of the exercise, team Bayelsa topped the medal haul with a total of 86 medals comprising of 42 gold; 29 Silver and 15 bronze. Delta finished second with 99 medals – the highest haul -made up of 41 gold, 26 Silver and 32 bronzes while Edo trailed 3rd position with 23 gold 35 silver and 31 bronze. Rivers State finished fourth on the medal log with 21 gold, 16 silver and 26 bronze medal, making a total of 63 medals while Ondo State secured the fifth position with 10 gold medals 18 silver and 15 bronze to make 43. Host Akwa took 6th place with a medal haul of 9 gold; 14 silver and 14 bronze medals totaling 37 medals. Abia State followed closely behind maintaining 7th position with 9 gold, 10 silver and 13 bronze making 32 in total while Imo was placed 8th with 6 gold, 12 silver and 24 bronze medals amounting to 42 Cross River State, despite its gallant efforts trailed last position with 5 gold, seven silver and 19 bronze totaling 31medals.
But Lead Consultant to NDDC on the games, Itiako Ikpokpo, said the essence of the festival was not about who came first or won gold, rather the main objective of the games was to showcase the hidden sports talents in the regions. “Our scouts are looking for potential raw talents that can be groomed for the future. The real work begins after the festival, nurturing these talents with scientific research-based training under certified coaches”
He stated that though the purpose of organizing the event has been achieved, the actual success begins when the talents identified have been groomed to reach their greater heights. Ikpokpo revealed that over 60 promising athletes have been identified by scouts made up of coaches, ex-athletes and talent spotters.
“This festival has brought young people from across our region together. These are memories they will always carry. We at NDDC are proud to have made this possible’’, he said., and listed long term plan to include periodic camp training for selected athletes as part of the broader strategy to prepare the next generation of sports stars from the region.
In the same vein, Gov. Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom called for nurturing of talents discovered to ensure they achieve their utmost in areas of specialty.The Governor, who was represented by the Chairman, Uyo Local Government Council, Dr Uwemedimo Udo at the closing event (the governor and the whole EXCO were away on a retreat in Lagos), congratulated the organizers and participants for a successful sports festival and reminded participants that the festival was not all about sports, but building contacts, ideas and good relationships.
Aside from the identification of talents and reviving the dwindling fortunes of sports in the region, the fiesta was aimed at promoting unity and community development across the nine Niger Delta states. ates from the South East zone.
The Managing Director of NDDC, Dr Samuel Ogbuku, told the departing athletes and officials that the festival which was part of NDDC stakeholders’ engagement was an avenue to bring people from diverse ethnic nationalities in the nine states of the region to compete among them and discover champions, who will represent the region and country in international and national competitions.
Ogbuku announced that the Commission would establish Sports Institute in Niger Delta to consolidate the gains of the Festival and enhance sports development in the region. The NDDC boss commended the athletes and restated the importance of stakeholder engagements, a key pillar of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda. He observed that events like sports festivals were not just about competition, but also unity, development, and the discovery of homegrown talents that can represent the region and the nation.
“Implementing the stakeholders engagement through the sports festival has brought peace and unity in the region. This platform has given you (athletes ) that opportunity to express yourself. It does not matter whether you come last but what is important is that there are athletes in those teams to be selected by scouts”, Ogbuku said.
The Chairman of the Main Organising Committee (MOC), Alabo Boma Iyaye, highlighted the achievements of the fiesta and noted that its primary goals of uniting the diverse ethnic nationalities of the region has not only been achieved, but its mandate of identifying champions has also been fulfilled
“We’ve paid attention to every detail in planning this event. But what will truly count is seeing these athletes climb the podium in national and international competitions in the future”, Iyaye said.
In an interview, Ms Akpata Alexandria, a 16-year-old gold medalist and Captain for female Delta football team who shared her thoughts with journalists attributed her success to hard work, team spirit and discipline. “It was all about believing in one’s self; it was about unity and love because without unity and love you cannot win as a team, so where ever you are, you just need to have this unity and love, make sure you are not quarrelling and trust me God will do it for you and give you victory”, she said.
The Delta female football coach Nelly Orisakwe who also spoke said hard work and dedication are the key ingredient of success.”We worked hard and we were dedicated, we went for the younger ones because that was what NDDC requested for, we gave them the training and we encouraged them to remain focused throughout the tournament which they did and they never gave up one minute not minding after we played 2-2 they kept fighting till the end’’, Orisakwe added.
Declaring the festival closed, the Chairman of the NDDC Governing Board, Mr. Chiedu Ebie, thanked Akwa Ibom State Governor, the organising committee, and all athletes for making the event a success.
