Chairman, Lobi Stars Football Club of Makurdi, Dr. Philip Nongu, has revealed that preparation for the forthcoming National Sports Festival in Abeokuta, Ogun State, is in top gear to ensure a harvest of medals for the state.
Nongo made assertion in an interview with our correspondent, saying Benue State will fully participate in almost all the sporting activities at the festival.
He discloses that the Benue State Sports Council has achieved a lot in the year 2024, especially at the National Youths Games when the state won four silver and seven bronze medals.
“With the support of Governor Hyacinth Alia, in the development of sports in the State, we were able to also attend some of the national competitions like volleyball, handball among others and we did very well. With these, I am optimistic that the year 2025 will be better.
“We have already started preparations for the National Sports Festival which will be coming up in May this year and I have directed all the coaches to go to the grassroots and assembled all the players we earlier identified for training the festival,” Nongo said.
Commenting on the just concluded Governor’s Cup, the chairman who is also the director of Sports commended the organizers for ensuring that everything went well from the start to the end, saying: “I was impressed for what I saw particularly the zeal put in by the players which demonstrated their ability to go further.
“This governor’s cup reminds me of the 1990 days, when I was the Sports Secretary of Gboko local government and BCC Lions FC were playing. The crowd I saw marvelled at me and I am hoping that in subsequent Governors Cup competitions we will improve on so many things to make it more glamorous to achieve its aim.
“Just as the Governor said, the Governor’s Cup has come to stay, and this will engage the minds of many youths thereby reducing criminality. It will also boost the economy of the State.”
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