Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, said his government will sustain investment in sports development to productively engage and empower youths in the state.
Obaseki gave the assurance when he received the National Scrabble Champion, Osahon Omosefe, who was on a courtesy visit at the Government House, Benin City.
According to him, “First of all, I want to congratulate Osahon Omosefe for the laurels he has won, which placed him as champion in scrabble in Nigeria.
“Scrabble is among the indoor games that we want to encourage our young ones to participate in. We are revamping our sports commission and broadening the scope of the categories of sports that we want to participate in as a state.
“The new Edo is about young people and their future. As a government, we will do everything to make sure that we put the right investment in building the capacity of our young people.”
He continued, “Not only in education and healthcare, but also in sporting activities where they are encouraged to exercise themselves physically and mentally. We are very pleased that we have a champion like you. I am very optimistic from what I have seen from people like you.
“We can catch up and we will catch up and place Nigeria in its rightful position globally. I have seen the potential in our young people; such potential is being exhibited by someone like you.
“We want to encourage and support your association and other associations to participate in different areas of sports which they are associated with, to make sure that they push the sports to international standard.”
“We will continue to expand sporting facilities, which are going to be spread across the 18 local government areas of the state so that there will be centres where young people can go and participate in games like chess, scrabble and athletics,” the governor assured.
The National Scrabble Champion noted, “I am delighted to present the trophy to you, Your Excellency. It may also interest you to know that I will be leading team Nigeria in the world championship and as the only Nigerian in the top 10 at the moment.”
