ASABA/Nigeria: Delta State Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Chief Patrick Ukah, has applauded the State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, for its administration’s priority attention to schools sports festival in the state.
Chief Ukah, who gave the commendation in Asaba yesterday during the unveiling of the Logo and Mascot of the 2020 Delta State Schools Sports Festival, said that the unveiling, tagged ‘Greater Delta Games 2020 ‘ was aimed at reflecting the finishing strong agenda of the state government.
The Commissioner stated that schools sports festival was designed to discover and develop future sports men and women, adding that the festival was being organized in three categories namely primary, junior and senior secondary.
He paid glowing tribute to the former Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, who is now the Secretary to Delta State Government (SSG), Mr Chiedu Ebie, for his contributions to the education sector particularly the school’s sports festival.
Chief Ukah disclosed that more sports had been introduced in the second edition of the festival, noting that eleven sports including athletics, badminton, basketball, chess, cricket, handball, hockey, scrabble, table tennis and volleyball.
He said that in a bid to give every pupil/student the opportunity to participate in the festival, the competition was organized at the school Local Government Area, zone and state finals.
The commissioner stressed that the zonal elimination stage of the competition commenced on February 18 and would end on February 20, while the competition at the school and local government level had been completed.
Chief Ukah, who said that the final stage of the festival would hold from March 8 to 12, 2020 at the Stephen Keshi Stadium, Asaba, listed the activities of the state finals to include arrival and accreditation of athletes and officials, competition and closing ceremony.
While unveiling the logo and mascot, Delta State Commissioner for Information, Mr Charles Aniagwu, who said that sports had critical role to play in the psychological development of any child, maintained that the state was unveiling the future leaders that would contribute their quota to the growth and development of the society.
Mr. Aniagwu lauded Chief Ukah and the officials of the state Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education for sustaining the school sports festival which was first held in 2019, saying that sports was a veritable instrument toward the realisation of the stronger Delta mantra of the Okowa’s administration.
