Lagos Sports Counts Gains Of Fashola's Government.

Lagos State Ministry of Youth, Sports and Social Development says there is need to celebrate the achievements recorded in the government of Babatunde Raji Fashola since he assumed power especially in his second term.

Speaking at the 4th anniversary of the second term of Governor Fashola in Lagos during the 2015 Ministerial Press Briefing at the weekend at Alausa, Secretariat, Ikeja, Mr. Oluseyi Whenu, Permanent Secretary (Office of Sports), who represented the Commissioner for Youth, Sports and Social Development, Mr. Wahid Enitan Oshodi, said that the ministry has continued to encourage private sector partnership and has over the months driven to make Lagos the hub of international tournaments in Africa.

Apart from maintaining the development of staff, the ministry has added to the revenue generation of the state through numerous games organised, training of athletes and exposure through competitions with their counterparts from across the world.

"Other achievements include provision of gym equipment, state of the art sporting equipment covering a wide range of sports. Campos Mini Stadium and Onikan Stadium presently enjoy 24 hours power supply from the state Independent Power Project thereby allowing sporting events till late in the night. This has afford Lagosians avenues for relaxation and recreation after day's works. It has also increased sponsorship and other economic opportunities for sports development," Whenu said.

At the Sports Council, Director of Sports, Dr. Kweku Tandoh said the council has achieved a lot with regular staging of grassroots competitions, participation and winning of laurels in national tourneys, setting up of a functional Sports Medicine Centre at the Mobolaji Johnson Sports Centre, Rowe Park, Yaba, appropriate reward system for athletes with no fewer than 46 athletes in full employment with the state government, functional ICT Resource Centre at the Sports Council, series of private sector sponsored tournaments being organised annually, and more importantly the Sports Classics that have not only got Lagos athletes exposed, but gave the athletes the opportunity to get world rankings from sports world bodies, while kits and equipment were also supplied by these sports bodies to Lagos.

The state's Sports Endowment Fund, according to its Sole Administrator, Mr. Tunde Bank-Anthony has been able to work out a development mini sports centre prototype for use in all local councils and LCDAs, raising of funds for infrastuctural development and facilitating corporate Lagos sponsorship of the competitions organised by the state government.

The Grassroots Sports Development office headed by Prince Wale Oladunjoye, the first of its kind in a state in the country, has been able to get private sponsors' care for 165 of 250 athletes of Adopt-A-Talent Sports Programme designed to discover and create a pool of budding talents below the age of 18 years.

Dr. Adeniji, who stood in for Prince Oladunjoye disclosed that some of these athletes were invited to the national camps and had represented the country at international tournaments with medal winning successes. The Grassroots Sports Development office has also been in charge of organisation of Lagos Tertiary Institutions Games, the annual Governor's Cup Lagos Tennis Championship, Mock African Nations Football Competition and facilitating of Ethnic Unity Cup