Posted by By Taiwo Adelu on
A member of the board Lagos State Sports Council, Otunba Olowojofe T.S.M (JP), has declared that the state is poised to reclaim its lost glory in the National Sports Festival coming up in Kaduna later in the year.
A member of the board Lagos State Sports Council, Otunba Olowojofe T.S.M (JP), has declared that the state is poised to reclaim its lost glory in the National Sports Festival coming up in Kaduna later in the year.
The state contingents to the Abuja 2004 festival came third overall with 37 Gold, 43 Silver and 43 Bronze, garnering a total 143 medals in all. Perhaps, the biggest achievement of the State in sports in the period review is its participation in the 15th National Sports Festival, Gateway 2006 where without the so called Elite Athletes, the state finished 7th on the medals table with its haul of 18 gold medals, 27 Silver and 35 Bronze medals.
But with the Kaduna 2008 fast approaching, Otunba Olowojofe, who is the Chairman of the Finance Committee of the state's Sports Council, said that Lagos, the Centre of Excellence, will bounce back to reckoning in Nigerian sporting arena.
'I want to assure that Lagos State will be back to reclaim its number one position in Nigerian sports in the next National Sports Festival coming up in Kaduna in November this year,' said Otunba Olowojofe. 'Though the board of the Sports Council is new, I want to assure you that we are working assisduosly to ensure that when we get to Kaduna, that number one position is not negotiable.
'We have no excuse because we have as our Executive Governor, Barrister Babtunde Raji Fashola, sports loving person who holds sports development dearly to its heart. That is why we at the Sports Council should perform brilliantly well to bring back sports to where it belongs in the state. The cardinal policy of the present board of the Sports Council is that we should bring back the lost glory to the state in the coming sports festival in Kaduna,' he said.
The soft spoken sports administrator told PM Sports that if all necessary logistics are in place early timely, the Sports Council, the athletes and their coaches as well as the officials have no excuse to give Governor Fashola not to perform well in Kaduna 2008.
'Everybody, including the Hon. Commissioner For Sports and Social Development, Prince Ademola Adeniji Adele, knows what it takes to achieve the target success in the Sports Festival, and I know very sure that the present government of Barrister Raji Fashola will provide the enabling environment for us to succeed,' he said.