Chief Donatus Agu-Ejidike, the Nigerian Pillar of Sports, has rewarded Ogodo Goodness, the winner of the first gold medal at the ongoing 2023 National Youth Games, with N100,000. Goodness is of Team Delta.
Ogbodo, representing Delta State, won gold in the women’s weightlifting Snatch 45kg event following a colourful opening ceremony at Stephen Keshi Stadium in Asaba earlier today.
Chief Ejidike, the former president of the Karate Federation of Nigeria (KFN), made the pledge in a congratulatory statement in Ilorin while interacting with a group of newsmen who visited his office on Saturday.
The renowned sports philanthropist commended the sense of discipline, dedication, and championship spirit being inculcated in the athletes, whom he described as tomorrow’s champions today.
According to him, Nigeria has a very bright future in these crops of young talents that the youth competition always throws up.
The Anambra State-born business mogul therefore commended the vision of those who conceived the idea of such a competition and the efforts of the Ministry of Sports Development, the Honourable Minister for Sports Development, the host state Delta, the Main, as well as the local organising committees, for the takeoff of the competition, despite the initial challenges.
Chief Ejidike, in his charismatic manner, promises to grace the closing ceremony of the games, to personally present the prize money to Ogodo, and to encourage the champions, as well as other participants in the games, not to rest on their oars, as they have the world ahead of them to conquer.
The Games started today with an opening ceremony at Stephen Keshi Stadium in Asaba and will end on from September 30, 2023
The games holding across multiple venues in the Delta State capital, will feature 35 sports, which include athletics, basketball, cricket, chess, football, judo, golf, handball, scrabble, taekwondo, and volleyball, with no fewer than 4,500 athletes from the states and the FCT participating.
The National Youth Games is the brainchild of the Goodluck Jonathan administration.
It is a multi-sport event organised by the Federal Government of Nigeria through the National Sports Commission for athletes from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
The maiden edition was held in 2013 at the main bowl of the MKO Abiola Stadium in Abuja. The event was opened by then-Vice President Namadi Sambo, who was represented by Malam Bolaji Abdullahi, Chairman of the National Sports Commission.
It had in attendance over 4000 athletes drawn from the different States in Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory.
The aim of the sports fiesta is to harness talents amongst the youths in Nigeria while also ensuring unity and togetherness among different States.
The maiden event in 2013 was staged in Abuja from December 5–15, with Cross River State emerging as the overall winner. It was closely followed by Akwa Ibom State as the first runner-up and Delta State as the second runner-up.
The second edition event was hosted in Ilorin from September 21–30, 2016, while subsequent editions in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2021 were held in Ilorin, Kwara State, due largely to the success recorded during the 2016 event, which was hosted in Ilorin.
Also, it was reported that the University of Ilorin and the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development signed a memorandum of agreement to host the games at the University of Illorin for five years.
Delta State is the perennial champion, having won all but the maiden edition in 2013.
This year’s edition has now been postponed twice, having initially been scheduled to take place from February 8–18 at the Dennis Osadebay University, Asaba, Delta State.
The event was later rescheduled for September 7–17 at the Stephen Keshi Stadium in Asaba due to the general elections in February.
