Ogun State’s Governor Prince Dapo Abiodun has been speaking about why his administration has deployed huge investments towards hosting the 22nd National Sports Festival to be held in Abeokuta and other sporting centres in Ogun State.
Abiodun said he believes the huge capital deployed towards hosting the 22nd National Sports Festival in the state would on the long run bring significant returns not only to individuals but the ‘economic prosperity for the entire state’, adding the state is poised to hold the best National Sports Festival.
The 22nd National Sports Festival otherwise known as Gateway Games Ogun 2024, will run between May 16th and 30th in Abeokuta and other adjoining sports centres in Ogun State .
The National Sports Festival, a premier sporting event in the country is a platform for celebrating athletic excellence and unity among diverse communities as well as an opportunity for emerging and established athletes to showcase their talents on the national stage.
Recognizing the potential of the National Sports Festival to inspire the next generation of sports enthusiasts and foster camaraderie, Governor Abiodun displayed an immense pride as he defended the rationale behind the state hosting the event for the second time after its first fine effort in 2006.
“What the sport festival stands for ties into our vision and we thought we should make a bid for it,” Prince Abiodun, the 16th Governor of the ‘Gateway’ State stated at an interactive session this week at the Olusegun Osoba Press Centre in Abeokuta. “We put our best foot forward and following the National Sports Festival in Delta State, we were accorded the right to host this sport festival which is the 22nd National Sports Festival.
“Ours (Gateway 2024) should have been the 26th edition but there were some years it (the National Sports Festival) wasn’t held.”
Governor Abiodun, said the fact that Ogun State is strategically located was an opportunity to broaden its horizon with provision of infrastructural facilities and enabling environment in order to explore all possibilities at ensuring economic prosperity for the entire state
He continued: “Ogun state is a very unique state, a state that cannot be compared to other states. We are the gateway to Nigeria’s prosperity. We are geographically located, we are the only neighbour that Lagos State has. We are the closest to the financial capital of Nigeria. This comparative advantage means you can’t go from Lagos or to any other part of Nigeria either by land, sea or air without going through Ogun State.
“This singular comparative advantage and competitive advantage, has defined us as a people and this is embedded in the success of this administration. When he assumed office, we looked at the state and said we must reflect this advantage. Beside our vision, to provide a focused and qualitative government whilst creating an enabling environment for partnership.
“This was our vision at creating the enabling environment as well as an institution that upholds the tenets of good governance. Believing that by doing this it will translate to economic prosperity for the entire State.”
According to Prince Abiodun, hosting the National Sports Festival was an opportunity to equally invest in infrastructure development, enhanced sporting facilities and provide an enabling environment that will not only benefit the athletes participating in the festival but the state’s economy well-being as well as elevating the standard of sports at the grassroots level throughout the state.
“Recognising the fact that we are the closest to the largest consumer market in Africa as well as having the longest border with Benin Republic, Osun State, Oyo State and Ondo State, we set out with our vision and mission (of transforming the state’s economy,” Governor Abiodun continued, adding the vision was embedded in the state’s famous anthem. “To implement a vision we must have verticals or pillars in place so that we can measure how well we’ve done through these. And we call those verticals ISEYA: Infrastructure, Social Welfare, Education, Youth Empowerment and Job Creation and Accountability.
“To begin the implementation of our vision, we have all these advantages but if you are not easily accessible then it’s bad. We embarked on multi-modern transportation plan. Meaning that you can connect to the state by roads, rails, the sea and the air. It gave rise to the construction of our Gateway Plan.”
Prince Abiodun further affirmed that under his watch, there has been improved inter-state and intra cities connections in terms of transportation while security has drastically and systematically improved, adding :“No business can thrive in an atmosphere of insecurity.
“When you look at the combination of providing infrastructure and security, the policy framework is to improve business activities in Ogun State and today, we are struggling to cope with the number of investors that are flooding our state.”
Credit: thenationonlineng.net
