Sports
‘Emulate Edo First Lady’Sports Minister Tasks Governors’ Wives On Sports Development
Joel Ajayi
Youth and Sports Development Minister Chief Sunday Dare has challenged the wives of States’ Chief Executives to emulate the First Lady of Edo State, Betsy Obaseki in the areas of youth and sports development.
Speaking at the closing ceremony of the first edition of the Betsy Obaseki Women Football Tournament in Benin city, Edo State on Sunday, the Sports Minister urged other women in positions of influence and authority to use their good offices to promote sports and other good causes.
Twelve teams, eight of them in the Nigeria Women football top-flight league participated in the tournament, earning handsome cash prizes in the process.
Winners Bayelsa Queens earned the top prize of five million nairas, runners up Rivers United got three million naira. Third and fourth-placed Edo Queens and FC Robo got two and one million naira respectively while all the other teams that could not go beyond the group stage smiled home with half a million naira each.
Her Excellency, Betsy Obaseki also used the tournament to preach against human trafficking and other gender-based abuses and crimes.
“What the First Lady of Edo State has done is worthy of emulation,” Sports Minister Sunday Dare told the audience at the closing ceremony, “the impact, not just in sports but on the social lives of these young girls cannot be quantified.
“Helping to fight against social vices like human trafficking and other discriminatory offences against women using sports is something that all influential women in power should do,” He added.
Some of those present at the closing ceremony of the tournament were the First Ladies of Osun and Bayelsa States, the wife of the Deputy Governor of Edo State Comrade Maryann Philip Shaibu and the first vice president of the Nigeria Football Federation, Barrister Seyi Akinwunmi.
Sports
Tinubu, Fashola, Governors, UNESCO, Sports Leaders to Headline National Grassroots Sports Summit
Joel Ajayi
The stage is being set for a landmark gathering at the Presidential Villa as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, former Lagos State Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, and leading figures from government, sports administration and international development feature in the proposed opening-day programme of the National Grassroots Sports Development Summit 2026.
In a statement signed by Thursday by the Chairperson Media Sub-com National Grassroot Sports Summit Dr. (Mrs.) Kehinde Ajayi stated that, the two-day Summit, scheduled for November 18–19, 2026, at the Banquet Hall, State House, Presidential Villa, Abuja, is being organized by the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Grassroots Sports Development, Hon. Adeyinka Anthony Adeboye.
With the theme “Creating a New Pathway for Sustainable Grassroots Sports Development,” the gathering seeks to produce practical solutions to Nigeria’s longstanding challenges in talent discovery, infrastructure, funding, coaching and athlete development.
The opening day, Wednesday, November 18, promises high-level engagement, with President Tinubu listed as Special Guest of Honour, while Fashola is scheduled to deliver a keynote address.
Also featuring in the Day One programme is Dr. Tayo Aduloju, Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), whose organization has been engaged as technical partner to help translate discussions into a workable development roadmap.
Other personalities and institutions on the opening-day lineup include the Chairman and Director-General of the National Sports Commission, Mallam Shehu Dikko and Hon. Bukola Olopade; the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum; the President of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON); and the Head of Office and UNESCO Representative to Nigeria.
Also listed are Barrister Enitan Oshodi, President of the African Table Tennis Federation; the President of the Nigeria Olympic Committee; and Dr. Musa Nakorji of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Research Department.
The involvement of these personalities reflects the Summit’s emphasis on connecting sports development with economic planning, education, grassroots governance, international cooperation and private-sector investment.
Adeboye described the gathering as an opportunity to move Nigerian sports beyond isolated achievements towards a coordinated national development system.
“The real question is not whether Nigeria has sporting talent.
We know we have talent in abundance. The question is how we build a system that discovers, nurtures and supports that talent consistently, from our communities and schools to the international stage,” he said.
He stressed that the participation of state governments, local councils, development institutions and sports administrators would be critical to producing lasting outcomes.
The Summit will continue on Thursday, November 19, with further stakeholder engagements aimed at developing actionable recommendations for sustainable grassroots sports development with preparations intensifying, organizers are confident that the gathering will provide a defining platform for strengthening the foundation of Nigerian sports and expanding opportunities for young people nationwide.
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