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Investment in sports events will keep the youths positively engaged. This was the submission of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State on Sunday, December 16th, 2018 at the National Stadium Abuja while expressing joy and excitement at the excellent placement of Team Delta that topped the medals table with a total hall of 163 gold medals to emerge winner of the 19th edition of the fiesta.
Urging therefore that investing in sports should be encouraged and not toyed with, the Governor said sports is also a money-spinning business.

At the event, President Muhammadu Buhari congratulated Governor Okowa for his administration’s commitment to sports development the result of which earned the state its victory at the festival where sportsmen and women competed for laurels.
Represented by the Minister of Sports, Mr Solomon Dalung, the president described the performance of Delta State as amazing, bagging a total of 352 medals – 88 silver, 101 bronze to win in the championship against Rivers State that got a total of 194 medals. Edo State took the third position with 47 gold medals.

Recalled that Governor Okowa motivated Team Delta to victory when he made a mouth-watering offer of N1 million per gold, N500, 000 per silver and N250, 000 per bronze medals won at the championship.

Elated Governor Okowa who was personally present with some members of the state executive council to cheer up Team Delta, stated that investing in sporting events should not be toyed with as it does not only keep the youths positively engaged but a money-spinner.

In an interview, Governor Okowa congratulated Team Delta for emerging victorious despite being the defending champions.
He said:“We are replicating what our late father, Dr Osaigbovo Ogbemudia thought us in old Bendel, we are not only developing sports facilities, we are doing all that we can to catch them young; we have the Principals and the Headmaster’s Cup and from January, we shall have athletics championship that will involve the secondary and primary schools in the state.

“Beyond that, we will encourage the young once to go into the future with the determination to succeed, we will continue to invest in sports, we congratulate Team Delta, they did very well and we are proud of them.
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At the closing ceremony, Edo State won the hosting right for the next edition of the championship which will hold in 2020. Renowned musical exponents added colour to the event that also saw the display of fireworks.