Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara has splashed cash gifts worth over N160million on Rivers athletes who were recently crowned victorious in various national and international tournaments.
During the ceremony hosted at the Banquet Hall of Government House, Port Harcourt on Wednesday, Governor Fubara noted that he has no reason to spend the state’s resources in buying dynamite or renting crowd to protest, but use the money for the peace loving and hard working people of Rivers State.
He said it is not about the cash rewards, but an encouragement for the spirit and love the athletes have for the state which enabled them to represent and make the state proud through their victory in the various tournaments.
The governor in his pronouncement gave the victorious Rivers United under 17 players the sum of N30 million, Rivers Hoopers Basketball N25million, Rivers Angels N25million, Rivers Beach Volleyball team N10 million and the Hockey team N10 million. Others are Rivers Table Tennis team N5million, Rivers Judo team N3 million, Chess N5million, Volleyball team N10 million, Paralympics team N10million, Cycling team N5million, Supporters Club N20million and individuals who won trophies to receive N2.5 million each.
He directed the Commissioner for Sports, Barr. Christopher Green to urgently design and commence a sports festival that will climax in December to enable the State celebrate the best from the tournaments as a way to further encourage the youths to unleash their productive potentials in sports.
Speaking earlier, the Commissioner for Sports, Barr. Christopher Green commended Governor Siminalayi Fubara for the support and encouragement that has made the athletes perform excellently at various tournaments and returned to the State with an avalanche of trophies and laurels.
The Sports Commissioner listed the exploit by the Beach Volleyball team, Rivers Hockey team, Table Tennis team, Queen Dan-Jumbo emerging as the best female chess player in Nigeria, the National Cycling team, the Rivers United under 17 team winner of the National Youth Under 17 Football League with teammates Jackson Seifa emerging as the highest goal scorer, Oscar Ozo as most valuable player and 5 of the players enlisted in the Nigeria Golden Eaglet team as well as 7 of the players upgraded into the Rivers United Football Club.
In addition, Barr. Green listed other team such as Rivers Angels that emerged first runner up of the Nigeria female Premier League and winner of the Presidential cup, stressing that for winning the trophy they were rewarded with N25 million and another N5million while for the exploits of Rivers Hoopers Basketball team they were also rewarded with $50,000USD by the organisers.
