How did you conceive the idea of Prosperity Cup?
The Bayelsa State Governors Cup also known as Prosperity Cup is a tournament held in support of the Governor, Senator Douye Diri’s efforts to positively engage youths through sports, develop football talents at the community level, stimulate youth empowerment and enhance overall grassroots development thus engendering inter-communal interaction, peace and unity in the state and beyond. Initially known as The Restoration Cup, it commenced in 2015 during the tenure of former Governor Seriake Dickson with 110 community teams from clubs, religious bodies and tertiary institutions.
This is the sixth year but the 5th edition of the prosperity cup, which is equally the Bayelsa Governors football tournament. We started planning in 2014 but commenced fully in 2015 with the kick off at the newly built Nembe City Stadiumin Nembe which our opening match was used to declare that stadium open. This was because the Ultra Modern Samson Siasia Stadium was being remodeled.
It was a tournament conceived to positively engage the youths of Bayelsa to become more productive, harness the existing talent which abounds in the state and to equally connect the people, and the communities with the Government in Bayelsa. That was the basic idea we had when we started in 2014.
We used that period to plan and look at the whole idea before the first edition held in 2015 with the finals in Bayelsa. It was an outstanding success with about 115 teams participating.
It was such a huge success that the Police Command in Bayelsa state confirmed that the crime rate in the Metropolis had dropped to its lowest level all through the period the matches were played. This is due to the basic fact that the youths were positively engaged. It gave us a lot of encouragement when we saw that lots of communities were engaged in the tournament.
The second edition was held in 2016 and it was equally another exciting tournament that saw 150 teams participating in that tournament. The rise from 115 to 150, showed us that the people were passionate about football, and the desire to see them excel. We were also encouraged by the interest shown by all the nooks and crannies of Bayelsa.
The exciting thing about the tournament in Bayelsa is that we played across the entire state. In all the eight Local Government Areas, matches were played from the beginning of the tournament till we rounded off the qualifying stages.
How are you mobilizing funds for the events considering the number of teams involved and the logistics?
The support has been tremendous from the Bayelsa State Government led by the sports-loving Governor Douye Diri who has done so much for youth development in the state. The Governor ably supported by the hard-working Deputy Governor Senator Lawrence Ewrudjakjpo and his Commissioner of Sports, Olympian Daniel Igali have in a short time taken the sports sector to enviable heights.
With a burning desire to transform the youths of the state and indeed the region a lot has been achieved in this sector.
Governor Douye Diri has taken the state from the middle position in Sports to the 2nd position in the last sports festival having come third in the last edition held in Edo state beating larger and other dominating teams like Lagos, Edo, and Kano States.
He initiated and started the Unity Games in the state which is the first Local Government sports festival in the State. The state became the first and only state to win the AITEO cup for the male and female categories in 2021. Our Mirracle Governor also hosted and sponsored the Nationally Scrabble Championship and wrestling championship amongst others. He indeed has the touch of a winner.
We have had support from Linkage Insurance company, Sterling Bank and other organizations within the region. We have also got the support of Century Group the Oil Service company, Bayelsa Board of Internal Revenue, the Local Content Management Development Board; they have done well for us. They have supported us twice.
But surely can do better
Very sadly, we expect more from the Oil Industry. We have not gotten the support of the IOCs like Shell, AITEO, Agip and others exploiting crude and Gas from Bayelsa even as it is worthy to note that Oloibiri in Bayelsa which has a team is the first place where oil was drilled in Commercial quantity and sold in the international market by Shell. Unfortunately, despite our concerted efforts, they have not been able to do anything for us. The NNPC and the LNG have also not been able to do anything for us.
The last edition in 2022 attracted many scouts from within, Europe, the Middle le East, Europe, and Australia. What was the magic?
The last edition attracted not only international football scouts but equally attracted a lot of local scouts as well. It was outstanding. We had scouts from France, the Aspire Academy, Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa, the Scout from Australia who commented that they came to Nigeria to look for players because their league did not have Nigerians and they felt it was a challenge that any league without Nigerian players is not seen as been outstanding.
They needed to get a lot of Nigerian players. They came in and picked several local players from the tournament. It was a good outing for us and for our young boys.
This year, we want to consolidate the gains of the previous editions. We are excited by the interest shown by the communities. Last year, we had 210 teams. It was astronomical and you could imagine what it takes to manage that number of teams in a tournament. This year we had 214 teams which confirmed it as not only the largest Grassroots Football Tournament in the Country but indeed in Africa.
