As part of aligning with Nigeria’s new vision for sports development and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s mandate to foster talent development and innovation in sports, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has moved to set up the maiden Niger Delta Sports Festival agenda for both sports and human capital development in the Niger Delta region.
This festival is aimed at strengthening penetration and access to sports at the grassroots, reinvigorating and sustaining the region’s competitiveness, supremacy, and influence in Nigerian sports, and using sports to enhance more significant interaction, unity, friendship, and security across the region.
The launching, which is scheduled between April 1 and 9, 2025, at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, will kick off the activities marking the 25th anniversary of the Commission.
It was further revealed that the Commission had adequately prepared for this sporting event with its Project Consultant, Dunamis Icon Limited, and they are pleased to announce to the public that they are about to birth the Niger Delta Sports Festival.
However, in the coming weeks, there shall be a flurry of activities to herald the sports festival, intended as a celebration of the sporting prowess of the Niger Delta, which has produced and will, by partnership with its people, continue to be the pathfinder and hub of Nigerian sports.
According to the Commission’s Executive Director of Finance and Administration, who is also the chairman of the Festival Planning Committee, Alabo Boma Iyaye, the multi-sports festival is targeted at bringing together thousands of young athletes from the nine states of the Niger Delta region and allowing them to showcase their talents.
He further hinted that the festival will organise Olympic-style games featuring over ten sports for the nine NDDC mandate states, adding that they understand the power of sports in transforming society, and as a key stakeholder in the Nigeria project, they want to contribute their quota to sports development in the country.
The boss further stated that they have also recognised and understood Mr. President’s zeal and passion for the sector’s revival, saying that as an intervention agency, they must partner with the region’s state governments to develop sports.
Moreover, he announced that the Niger Delta Sports Festival is also targeted at supporting the states in the discovery of sports talents, grooming them into national and international elite athletes, and nurturing them to attain gainful professional careers in sports for self-reliance, economic growth, and independence.
