In the run up to the 2015 general elections in Akwa Ibom State, Governor Udom Emmanuel then the flag bearer for the Peoples Democratic Party in his campaigns across the thirty one Local Government Areas in the state clearly defined his agenda towards the renaissance of sports development in the state.
One striking feature of his campaigns was that he was the only candidate among the Governorship aspirants who had a clear cut agenda that would enhance sports development from the foundation with long term projections that would bring benefits to the state.
His vision at that time was to lay a new template that would ensure that the youths of Akwa Ibom State would find limitless opportunities through sports especially with the completion of the new International Stadium built with the state of the art facilities and the future economic benefits.
The projections of Governor Udom Emmanuel at the start of his selfless leadership to his state on May 29, 2015 in sports development was seen at that time as a very big set target especially with the dynamics of ensuring that Akwa Ibom State would in the nearest future become the sports tourism destination not only for Nigerians but a centre for sporting excellence.
Perhaps one of the projections of the amiable Governor is his vision to ensure that Akwa Ibom State will in the nearest future build and develop a state of the art Institute of Sports, a campaign promise he made which would further enhance the intellectual content of our sports administrators in the country and offer our sports men a new platform in accessing up to date schedules in their chosen fields.
Two years down the road of his sterling leadership in Akwa Ibom State, Governor Udom Emmanuel has set the pace for sports development in Nigeria with a new frame work, a new model that has taken sports development back to the grassroots with the synergy that has been revived in sports and education.
That Akwa Ibom State under Governor Udom Emmanuel in just two years is the first state to begin the drive to fulfill the vision to build ten Sports Centers across the ten Federal Constituencies in the State is a milestone which remains unprecedented in the country.
The ten sports centers have been designed to offer the youths at the grassroots the platform and opportunity to have access to sporting facilities, get them engaged constructively in their daily life patterns, provide new opportunities to develop raw talents at this level, ensure that the youths remain focused in achieving quality education also through sports participation and further giving the state government the opportunity to lay a new sports policy that will in the short and long term be sustainable as the state today has become the focal point of sports tourism in Nigeria.
The Sports Centre at West Itam which has been completed was the historic approach that started the reality of the new dawn of greatness that finally beckoned upon the horizon of the state. With the state of the art facilities which include a standard football field, a tartan track, volley ball court, basket ball court and other facilities, Governor Udom Emmanuel has become a model for other states to emulate in their projections for the re-definition of discovering new talents for the future of Nigeria.
The concept of the ten Sports Centers spread across the ten Federal Constituencies has been widely applauded by sports administrators in the country as designed to walk the road to becoming champions and one interesting feature about these laudable projects is that it has been widely accepted by the youths who have daily engaged themselves in the usage of these facilities.
At a time Nigerian athletes have failed to excite and shine at international meets especially the last Olympic Games held in Rio, Brazil where Team Nigeria flopped, Governor Udom Emmanuel clearly told Nigerians that there was need to go back to the development of grassroots sports and charged the State Ministry of Youth and Sports to chart a new course that will ensure that the state will in the nearest future become a new hub for the discovery of national and international athletes and champions.
Today, the process to chart a successful discovery of new generation of athletes for Nigeria who once ruled the world of athletics and other sports in the likes of ChidiImoh ,OlapadeAdenekan, the Ezinwa brothers, Mary Onyali-Omagbemi, EnefiokUdobong, Innocent Egbunike, Samuel Peter, Hogan Kid Bassey, Lawrence Iquaibom, Vivian ChukwuEmeka, Henry Amike, Yusuf Ali, FalilatOgunkoya just to mention a few of our past heroes has started in Akwa Ibom State.
The first Akwa Ibom Youth Sports Festival, the very first of its kind designed and hosted by any state is perhaps the greatest feat that has given the federal government a template that there are limitless talents and opportunities at the grassroots to change the fortune of sports development in Nigeria.
The Akwa Ibom Youth Sports Festival gave over 6,000 youths from across the thirty one local government areas of the state, the opportunity and platform to discover very exciting talents as the race for honours and glory swept through the participating schools and local government areas in what sports administrators including the Minister for Sports, Barrister Solomon Dalung who was in Uyo to watch the opening ceremony openly concede that the state had set the pace for the long term development of sports in Nigeria.
The interests generated by the Akwa Ibom Youth Games which has been emulated recently in some states, clearly shows that sports remains an integral core for national unity and growth and the successful management of these athletes as witnessed by the strides of the state government through the Ministry of Youth and Sports further gives hope that the making of future champions lies in this great state.
The Akwa Ibom Youth Sports Festival will be an annual event and it has further positioned the state in her readiness to excel at the National Sports Festival whenever it will finally hold, as the state in the last three editions have finished among the top ten states and have also excelled in the two editions of the National Youth games held so far finishing among the top five in the first two editions held so far.
That Akwa United Football Club in just two years of the enormous support given to the team obviously the biggest sporting export from the state today are title contenders to the Nigeria Professional Football League in the present season with a whole new structure and exciting performance is strongly another focal success story of Governor Udom Emmanuel.
Barely into his first year as the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Akwa United Football Club won the 2015 Federation Cup beating Lobi Stars of Markurdi at the TeslimBalogun Stadium in front of a capacity crowd which included teeming supporters and the number one patron of the club, Governor Udom Emmanuel who made history that glorious Sunday evening by being the first Governor of the State to lift a major national trophy.
That drive for success has made Akwa United today, truly a professional side and with a bright chance of returning to the continent by the end of the present 2016/2 017 football season.
The exploits of our senior football national team could know no better home as the Super Eagles in recent international fixtures have made Uyo their home for the fixtures on the road to the next World Cup in Russia 2018 and in a few weeks precisely on June 10, 2017 will host the BafanaBafana of South Africa in a 2019 Nations Cup match day one fixture.
The Super Eagles have fallen in love with the warm reception and state of the art facilities which the GodswillAkpabio International Stadium has propelled the success story of the new look Eagles as they fly with great wings into the new history that awaits them.
As a firm believer in the re-birth philosophy of self discovery of the Akwa Ibom People through the Dakkada philosophy, Governor Udom Emmanuel today has charted a new swan song that has given the youths of the state a strong belief that with their natural talents, they can break barriers to become great personalities through sports.
In just two years as Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Governor Udom Emmanuel has become a pace setter whose modest contributions have been widely acknowledged. Only recently, the League Bloggers Award short listed this very sports loving Governor for the award as best Sporting Governor of the year.
As we celebrate the legacies so far laid by this great leader and emerging torch bearer in sports development in Nigeria, history will beckon on his leadership for setting the pace of the new dawn and renaissance in Nigerian sports and for bringing Akwa Ibom State into the international community with his modest achievements in the sports sector.
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