- Odegbami unveiled as Grand Sports Ambassador
The Governor of Ogun State, Prince Dapo Abiodun, remains confident that the forthcoming Gateway Games 2024 will be the benchmark for the National Sports Festival in Nigeria.
The Gateway 2024 will be staged between May 16 and 31 in Ogun State.
Briefing the media on the preparations for the Gateway 2024 at the Olusegun Osoba Press Centre in Abeokuta yesterday, Governor Abiodun said Ogun State was deliberate from the outset when it made the bid to host the National Festival , adding that after making huge and giant strides in the provision of infrastructure and facilities across board, the state is poised to host the best ever fiesta for budding athletes in the country.
“We are very deliberate about it (hosting the National Sports Festival),” Abiodun stated matter-of-factly. “We have developed infrastructures, improved massively on security, and other areas, then we moved onto tourism and also sports.
“We are aware that sport unite the people despite our various differences. Again, we are trying to set good standards and wants this National Sports Festival, Gateway 2024, holding in 2025 to be the benchmark in the history of the National Sports Festival in the country.
“The LOC and government have been working day and night to put finishing touches to our preparations. I can boldly say that ‘we are ready’.
Abiodun further expressed delight that for the first time in the history of the National Sports Festival, all athletes competing at the games will be accommodated in the same place in order to boost the camaraderie amongst the assemblage of youths from all over the country.
“It’s going to be a games Village, and that’s like Olympics standard where all the athletes would sleep and be fed in one place throughout the sports festival,” Abiodun added.
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Meanwhile, Governor Abiodun has unveiled former Nigeria International and erstwhile Green Eagles’ captain, Segun Odegbami, as the Grand Sports Ambassador of Ogun State.
Odegbami’s appointment along with that of star athlete Tobi Amusan and boxing sensation Anthony Joshua as the state’s sports ambassadors , were announced on the margins of the governor’s media parley with senior sports editors yesterday at the Olusegun Osoba Press Centre in Abeokuta.
Governor Abiodun presented the certificate appointing Odegbami, whose activities will go beyond the National Sports Festival.
“Permit me to use this opportunity to perform this ceremony of unveiling Chief Segun Odegbami as our grand sports ambassador.
“The National Sports Festival will come and go, but we’re already thinking of leveraging on the gains that will come from hosting the NSF.
“That’s where Odegbami will come in to help us maximise the sports economy.
“He had already given us the template of the Amsterdam Arena, which we intend to replicate at the MKO Abiola Stadium,” he added.
At yesterday’s unveiling of ‘Mathematical’ Odegbami by Governor Abiodun was the Secretary to the Government of Ogun State, Mr. Tokunbo Alabi as well as Commissioner of Sports, Honourable Wasiu Isiaka, the Chief of Staff to Governor Abiodun, Dr. Toyin Taiwo as well as other top government officials officials including chieftains of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) Dr. Kweku Tandoh and Dr. Kunle Solaja.