BY KAYODE AKINMADE

 On Friday, the 22nd edition of Nigeria’s premier sports tournament, the National Sports Festival (NSF), kicks off in Ogun State amid song and drum, and the spectre of a wide audience.

Given the massive preparations, the state-of-the-art sporting infrastructure and the reinvention of historical monuments to give visitors to the state a great feel of its culture and traditions, and more importantly the avowed determination of the Dapo Abiodun administration to give Nigeria and indeed all of Africa a festival like no other, Ogun, the home of the best talent in Nigerian music (talk of the Abami Eda, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Haruna Ishola, Ayinla Omowura, Ebenezer Obey, K1 the Ultimate, etc) and literature (Wole Soyinka, Femi Osofisan, etc), is bound to host Nigeria’s most exciting moments in the next two weeks.

The stage is set, and the performers are fully ready to thrill the audience like they (the audience) have never been treated.

Ogun raw sporting talents, from athletics to boxing, and from volleyball to football, among others, are set to slug it out with talents from around the country, showing the rhythms of Nigeria’s sporting endowments, its rich culture, its incredibly diverse population, and its future.

Ogun 2025 is bound to be arguably the best sporting event in Sub-Saharan Africa in recent times. The opening ceremony will be spectacular, comparable to what you find at the Olympics or FIFA-organised tournaments, and full of drama, colour, and excitement. The Gateway State is hosting over 12000 athletes, and the accommodation arrangements are superb.

And from its fabrics to its monuments and, of course, its unbeatable cuisine, visitors are going to have the best of Ogun State from May 16 to 30, marking the second time the state has staged the multi-sports fiesta after hosting the 2006 edition.

 No doubt, many great talents will emerge from the festival, joining the great names of previous tournaments. In the years gone by, many great Athletes rose from the NSF to global stardom.

To mention just a few of the names, there was the Queen of the Tracks, Mary Onyali, who was first discovered at the Kwara ’85 Games; Falilat Ogunkoya, who would go on from the NSF to become the first Nigerian woman to win an individual Olympics track medal (at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games); Deji Aliu, a multiple-time African champion and World Cup medallist, and Chika Chukwumerije, the first person from Sub-Saharan Africa to win an Olympic medal in Taekwondo, and the first African Taekwondo athlete to compete at three Olympic Games. There was also Yusuf Alli, who represented Nigeria in 1980 at the Moscow Games, and at the Los Angeles 1984 and Seoul 1988 Olympic Games.

Get behind the steering, or get on a bus to Abeokuta, and witness history live as new names emerge to cement Nigeria’s sports legacy…

Fittingly, the Ogun State Government is treating the games as the key to a revolution. As Governor Dapo Abiodun has been keen to stress, the 22nd NSF will be more than just a sporting event; it will be a catalyst for establishing a vibrant sports economy in the state; a deliberate effort by his administration to build a robust sports economy, particularly through the upgrading of several sports facilities across the state.

The Governor articulates the objectives of the festival so well and deserves accolades for the depth of his vision. Hear him: “As a visionary government, we are always intentional about our actions. We have been working hard to ensure that the state continues to improve its infrastructure. The government has constructed several roads, and as the Gateway to the country, we want to ensure everything is in place for the state to thrive before deciding to bid for the NSF.

When we won the bid, we didn’t fully grasp the magnitude of our undertaking, but with our progress so far, we realise we are on the right track for the state to lead while others follow. Ogun’s business circle will experience a bumper harvest during the event, with major hotels fully booked and petty traders making brisk business.

The founding fathers of the NSF intended to unite the country through the event, and we have embraced this vision, intending to ensure we benefit immensely from hosting the NSF.

We have already started seeing these benefits even before the games have begun. Beyond infrastructure, we aim to use the NSF to boost our GDP by creating a sports economy around the facilities. We intend to make these facilities tourist attractions.”

Further articulating the goals of Ogun NSF, the Governor said: “What the sport festival stands for ties into our vision and we thought we should make a bid for it and we put our best foot forward.

“After the Delta sports festival, we were accorded the right to host this sport festival which is the 22nd National Sports Festival. It should have been the 26th but there were some years were it wasn’t held.

“Sport is intertwined with the history of Nigeria. Ogun State is a very unique state that cannot be compared to other states.

“We are the gateway to Nigeria’s prosperity. After all we have done, we are intentional about our drive to promote tourism and sports.

“For this event, Gateway Games, we are going to be ready. Like everything in life most times when you are cooking it you don’t get to appreciate what it will taste like until it is ready.

“I want to assure that we have put everything into this. This goes beyond National Sports Festival; this is our first step into what is called the sport economy. Ogun State will now be tapping into that.

“What does the sport festival represent? To unite the country across state lines and to ensure that our youths develop talents, skills, leadership qualities and interpersonal skills because if you don’t do that there is a tendency for disunity.

“It will unite the country; nothing unites Nigeria more than a football match. Even when two brothers are fighting, when they are playing a soccer match everybody will hold hands and rejoice and then go back to their fight after that. This was what the vision of our forefathers was.

“They wanted us to be more disciplined, have leadership skills, promote talents. We are keying into that. We hosted in 2006. I want to assure you that this year will be the benchmark for sports festivals.”

That, really, is the kind of energy and passion that you need to hold a world class festival, lift the mood of the populace, and put the society on a winning track. Let the games begin!!

Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H