Delta State governor ‘spoils’ Okagbare, announces juicy rewards

DELTA State governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan on Friday showered cash gift on Africa’s fastest woman Blessing Okagbare, gave her a title and named a stadium after Nigeria’s lone medallist at the recent World Athletics Championships in Moscow.
During the reception for Delta State-born Okagbare in Asaba, Governor Uduaghan announced a cash gift of $2.5million for Okagbare, who clinched a silver and a bronze in Moscow last month.
In addition, the governor announced a yearly training grant of $120,000 for three years for Okagbare to support her preparation for the 2016 Olympics to reduce the distractions that may be caused by the number of competitions she would partake in before the Rio de Janeiro games.
 Okagbare was also appointed the youth ambassador for the state; she was given a parcel of land in Asaba, with a stadium in the state named after the athlete.
The cash gift gesture was extended to Okagbare’s coaches with Mr Daniel Etsebiminor, the local coach that discovered her and her AFN coach Mr Gabriel Okon receiving N2million each, while Mr John Smith, Okagbare’s international coach got $20,000.
Speaking further, Uduaghan charged politicians not to distract Okagbare as she prepares for the 2016 Olympics.He said those who desire to appreciate her should do so quietly without politicising her in order to make her focus on the set goal of winning gold medals in the 2016 Olympics.
His words: “All support for Blessing should be done privately and quietly, we should insulate her from politics, she is a role model, she is not a political model”, adding that Okagbare is “a pride to Nigeria and a pride to us in Delta State.”
According to him, “her feat has shown that youths in the state have enormous potential for greatness which if harnessed positively will bring great successes and positive changes to the state and the nation.”
He also charged the state Sports Commission to identify four young potential athletes capable of winning medals that would be nurtured and groomed to represent the state and country in the 2016 Olymics Games in Brazil promising to give them training grants for their preparations and exposure to international training facilities.
The governor thanked President Goodluck Jonathan for the honour done to Okagbare and commended the team that has managed her thus far, especially the local coach Etsebiminor who discovered her.
He also commended other young athletes from the state that have won laurels in different competitions especially the last African Junior Athletics Competitions in Malawi promising to honour them at a different date.
He assured that his administration was not only interested in discovering athletes but that such athletes get the necessary support to win laurels.
In his remarks, the president of the AFN, Evangelist Solomon Ogba thanked the Delta State government for encouraging field and track events development in the country, stating that Delta is champion in sporting activities in the country.
While noting that Governor Uduaghan’s passion for sports could be traced to his being an athlete, Evangelist Ogba stated that Okagbare placed Nigeria in the 19th position in world ranking.
Responding, Okagbare thanked Governor Uduaghan for playing important roles in her success story stating, “my career has grown from good to better but, my best is yet to come.”
She appealed to the federal and state governments to support athletes by developing sports through funding and proper management, explaining that “proper and adequate funding especially training grants to athletes will make them prepare properly for competitions and improve their performance.”
She said that money spent on sports, especially to support the training and preparation of athletes in track and field would determine the amount of laurels the country can win in competitions.
Mr Pinnick in his speech thanked Governor Uduaghan for his love for sports, assuring that the state would always excel in sporting activities.