By David Owei, Bayelsa

Bayelsa State, Nigeria – The South-South representative on the board of the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF), Mr. Ama-Ebi EbiEkpolade Stow, has pledged his full support for the forthcoming anniversary celebration in honour of Chief (Ambassador) Ogunu Miebi Samson, a respected figure in grassroots sports development.

The anniversary planning committee, led by Chairman Hon. Uroh Kiani Esq., paid a courtesy visit to Mr. Stow at his Oxbow Lake office to seek collaboration and partnership for the upcoming event.

In his remarks, Mr. Stow lauded Chief Ogunu’s decades of service in nurturing sports talents, particularly at the grassroots level. He noted that such dedication is a rare quality, especially in an era where selfless service often goes unnoticed.
“Having come from the private sector myself, I understand the sacrifices required to contribute meaningfully to the growth of our state and nation. Chief Ogunu’s contributions reflect true passion and patriotism,” Stow said.

Mr. Stow urged government bodies and International Oil Companies (IOCs) to leverage the expertise and unwavering commitment of individuals like Chief Ogunu to promote national sporting interests.
According to him, passion-driven service is a vital resource in building Nigeria’s sports sector and empowering young athletes.

Demonstrating his personal commitment, Mr. Stow pledged to bankroll the budget for the tennis of the anniversary celebration, in addition to providing branded T-shirts and bottled water for the event. He called on other well-meaning Bayelsans to join hands in making the anniversary a resounding success.

By David Owei,Bayelsa

Governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Douye Diri, on Wednesday, received an Award of Excellence from the United Nations Children Educational Fund (UNICEF) in acknowledgement of the state’s prompt response to its counterpart funding obligations in the health sector.

Governor Diri was also presented the Miss Nigeria Football Award by organisers of the Nigeria Soccer Ambasdador Awards during the 168th State Executive Council meeting in Government House, Yenagoa.

The Commissioner for Health, Prof. Seiyefa Brisibe, who presented the UNICEF award to the governor, said it was based on his administration’s commitment to healthcare delivery.

Prof. Brisibe explained that in 2022, the state had a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with UNICEF and Global Alliance for Vaccine Initiative (GAVI), which sought to improve service delivery at the primary health centres.

The agreement was also to enhance immunisation coverage, acceptance of primary healthcare services in the rural communities, bridge the human resources gap for health at the primary care level as well as strengthen the logistics and movement of medical supplies.

The Health Commissioner said: “Your Excellency provided support and met the state government’s obligation by promptly providing counterpart funding. It is for this exceptional leadership, commitment and collaboration that UNICEF presented this award to you.

“The MOU has yielded clear deliverables at its closeout in April this year. These include the engagement of 1000 staff for primary healthcare, upgrade of over 30 health facilities at primary level from tier 1 to tier 2, a reduction to zero cases from 62,000 to 27,000, the supply of ambulances and several health commodities at the primary healthcare level.”

Presenting the second award, the Commissioner for Sports, Hon. Daniel Igali, who represented the governor at the ceremony in Abuja, commended Senator Diri for his administration’s dedication to sports development.

Igali stated that the award was as a result of the outstanding performance of Bayelsa Queens in the Nigeria Women Professional League (NWPL).

He said: “A few weeks ago, organisers of the Nigeria Soccer Ambassador Award found you worthy to be honoured with the Miss Nigeria Football Award.

“This was based on the strength that our state football club, Bayelsa Queens, under your leadership, is the only team in the last four years that has emerged Nigeria Women Professional League champions twice.”

Responding, Senator Diri applauded both commissioners for implementing his Prosperity Administration’s policies and promoting the image of Bayelsa in a positive light.

“You are my foot soldiers and the vision has been implemented so well. That is why we keep having one award after the other.

“We will continue to invest in very critical areas of human capacity building, particularly in our youths via sports development, and also in the health of our people. There is no investment that is too much in these areas and several others.

“These awards attract positive image to our state. Bayelsans are hardworking people.

“Our government will continue to solicit the support of our people so that Bayelsa can be a better place by the time we leave office. Let us create a state that can be competitive with any other in the comity of states. Let us build a state we can be proud to hand over to our children, one that would be peaceful at all times so that others would travel here for tourism and eke out a living. That is the kind of state we are building and we must continue to be patriotic about our state.”

By David Owei
Adebola Samuel of Ogun State has emerged winner of the Masters category in the 5th Governor Douye Diri National Scrabble Championship in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital.

The two-day tournament, which featured over 300 players in five categories, including Masters, Intermediate, Opens, Veterans and Students, witnessed Adebola Samuel smiling to the bank with the trophy and star prize of One Million Naira (N1,000,000).

Samuel joins Avwenagha Oshevire of Delta, Nsikak Etim of Akwa Ibom and Enoch Nwali of Ebonyi State as winners of the annual fiesta.

Samuel won the Masters category with a cumulative of +856, Jimoh Abdulmumini came second with +672 cumulative while Chuks Nwaeze finished third with +354 cumulative.

Dorcas Innocent of Bayelsa was crowned winner of the Opens category, dethroning Theophilus Nimibo in the category. Former national champion, Doku Esan took home the Veteran’s title while Edowor Bobor emerged champions in the Intermediate category to overthrow Doubara Enai.

Pereowei Edidie of the Federal Government College, Odi retained the Students category title with a cumulative of +2060 while August Shannon came second with +1748 cumulative.

Declaring the championship closed, Governor Douye Diri commended the Bayelsa State Scrabble Association for consistently hosting the championship in the last five years which has become one of Nigeria’s premier intellectual sporting event.

Governor Diri, who was represented by the Commissioner for Sports Development, Dr Daniel Igali, noted that the performance of the players has shown that sports is not just about physical contest but also an avenue for discipline and national unity.

He remarked that there is a deliberate effort by his administration to make Bayelsa the hub of sports in Nigeria, stating that the state’s triumph in the maiden Niger Delta Sports Festival in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State and the performance of Bayelsa in the last three editions of the National Sports Festival was indicative of the state government’s investment in sports.

According to him, Bayelsa is not a one-sport state but multi-dimensional, adding that the state won medals in over twenty different sports which showcases the versatility of Bayelsa sporting prowess, maintaining that his administration is using sports as a tool to curb crime.

Governor Diri, who hinted that Bayelsa has officially submitted a bid to host the 2028 National Sports Festival which the state is upbeat of winning, pointing out that the 2028 National Sports Festival would be well-organised and the most athletes-friendly National Sports Festival.

His words, “this tournament fully supported by the Bayelsa State Government has become one of Nigeria’s most premier intellectual sporting events attracting top players across the country with prize money this year amounting to N10,000,000.00”.

President of the Nigeria Scrabble Federation, Chief Olubake Aka in his remark, asserted that the overwhelming results of this year’s tournament signifies that the championship is yielding results.

While commending Governor Diri for financing the tournament, Chief Aka appealed to the government, corporate organizations and multinational oil companies to sponsor in order to improve the prize money.

Earlier in the address of welcome, chairman of the Bayelsa State Scrabble Association, Mr. Daniel Alabrah, opined that the Governor Douye Diri National Scrabble Championship has become a pride to the state, stressing that the tournament creates an avenue for frenzy.

He explained that the championship has improved the performance of Bayelsans in becoming better scrabble players, pointing out that a Bayelsan winning the Masters in the last National Sports Festival speaks volumes of the competition’s impact on the state.

The winner of the Master’s category, Adebola Samuel in an interview, expressed joy for his triumph, adding that his aim at the moment is to perform excellently at the World Championship in Malaysia this year and the African Scrabble Championship.

He explained that he won the championship from an English word “Volubly” derived from “voluble” which means “talkative”, having played averment earlier.