Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, has gifted parents of 2025 National Youth Games medalists cash awards to support the education of their children and wards for winning laurels for the state at the championship.
Represented by the Executive Chairman of the Kwara State Sports Commission, Coach Bolakale Mogaji, the Governor commended the state’s athletes for improved performance at the last NYG, urging them to continue to make the state proud.
“We have asked the athletes to come with their parents because they are underage, they cannot handle money and they cannot open an account yet,” he said at the reception held in honour of the athletes in the George Innih Stadium Ilorin.
“The parents will take care of the money, probably pay for their school fees, buy their school uniform, whatever as a form of scholarship. That’s why the parents are here.”
“Before this administration came in, Kwara used to be around 23, 19, but for the first one, we were seventh in the ladder, that was the one that held at the University of Ilorin.”
“Also, the first time we went to Asaba, we moved from that seventh position to number six and now we have moved from sixth position to fifth position,” he added.
“We went with 26 different sports and apart from these 26 different sports, only five sports did not have a medal at all. It has never happened. That means in about 21 or so sports, everybody had medals. The total amount for today’s incentive is over eight million naira.”
“In fact, among all the states in the northern region, we are the only one that are competing seriously with all the south-south and southwest regions in Nigeria. So, we decided to give a token to their parents so that it can enhance their scholarship. That’s what we are doing today,” the Governor said.
The reception was attended by the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on New Media, Olayinka Fafoluyi; Permanent Members of the Commission, Dele Abubakar, representing Kwara Central, and Hon. Abdullahi Yunusa Lade, representing Kwara North; the Director of Sports, Ibrahim Oladele Bako; the Commission Secretary, Haruna Tsado, among others.
AbdulRazaq encouraged the athletes to continue to balance sporting excellence with academic growth, promising sustained efforts in both infrastructure and human capital development for sports development in the state.
“Parents should encourage their children to participate in sports. They should read their books, and at the same time, do a little bit of sport,” AbdulRazaq advised.
For his goodwill message, Fafoluyi encouraged the athletes to remain focused, disciplined and dedicated, promising that Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq-led administration would continue to support sports and youth development in the state.
Responding on behalf of the parents, Abdulsalam Abdullah appreciated the Governor for giving recognition to the performance of their kids to enhance the reputation of the state. He also pledged that the parents would continue to support sports development in the state.