NAN-S-4
Sport
Abuja, Dec. 9, 2016 (NAN) Emeka Onyeama, the President, Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF), on Friday in Abuja said that the first cricket oval in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) will be ready for use in January.
Onyeama told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the oval would go a long way to popularise the game in Nigeria.
“We are almost done with the first oval and before the end of January it will be ready for playing while we take time to complete the structure around it,’’ he said.
NAN reports that Onyeama was one of the people who were fgiven awards for their contributions to sports development at the 2016 FCT Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) Week.
Onyeama was awarded the FCT outstanding Administrator of the Year for his performance.
Other awardees include 13-year-old Ikechukwu Osadebe as the FCT Young Athlete of the Year and the FCT Best Football Club of the year went to the federal Road Safety Corps FC.
Coach Anthony Asuguo got the FCT Distinguished Coach of the Year award, while FCT Football Association got the FCT Sports Association of the Year award.
NAN reports that the Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung, used the occasion to enjoin state governors to focus on sports development to generate employment for youths.
To raise money to fund sports in their respective states, Dalung called on the governors to allocate at least three percent of their security votes to sports development.
Dalung said if that would be done; there would be more than enough money to provide sports facilities to keep youths away from violence, militancy and other vices. (NAN)
DE/PDE
=====
(Edited by Peter Ejiofor)