The four major stadia in Ekiti State are set to be developed to international standard as the State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to sports development.
Speaking during his visit to Oluyemi Kayode Stadium in Ado Ekiti, Governor Oyebanji stressed the need to make sporting activities attractive to youths by creating an enabling environment for sports men and women to thrive.
The Governor, who was conducted round the sports facilities by the General Manager of the State Sports Council, Mr. Kunle Adeyemi, also assured that he would fulfill his campaign promises to elevate the current Sports Council to a full-fledged Sports’ Commission.
He said that all the major sports infrastructures including the Oluyemi Kayode Stadium, as well as those in Ikere, ijero and Ikole would be totally overhauled as part of efforts at achieving the desired goals.
Oyebanji added that new state of art equipment would also be provided to aid sports development, stressing that Sports has become a powerful and veritable tool for youth development.
“With more facilities in place, our sports men and women will achieve greater feat in their different fields. We intend to use sports to open doors for talented youths to build successful careers. Most importantly, we will operationalize the Ekiti State Sports Trust Fund to increase overall investment in sporting activities” he said.
The General Manager of the State Sports Council, Mr. Kunle Adeyemi lauded the Governor for what he described as starting strong, noting that his visit to the Stadium was an indication of his dedication to development of sports in the State.
Mr. Adeyemi pledged the commitment of management and staff of the Council to the success of the administration and sports development in the State.
He, however, solicited the continued support of the new administration to efforts of the sports council to nurture youngsters to become great sportsmen to help in achieving the set goals.
“With adequate funding and increased conducive working environment, achieving the set goals will be made easy” Adeyemi said.
Packaged by Emmanuel Adeniran
