Sports minister, Barrister Solomon Dalung is counting the financial blessings of the recent National Sports Festival to all participants,as he says it accorded many opportunities of making money with their talents.
Dalung used the example of Delta State to buttress his point, pointing out that the governor, Dr Ifeanyio Okowa promised N1m for each gold medal won by the contingent.
The minister noted that, since Delta State won 163 gold medals, it means Abuja 2018 produced 163 millionaires.
Dalung, though, told sports247.ng that he cannot guarantee federal government intervention for Edo State to host the next edition of the festival.
He admitted agitations by some sports stakeholders for the federal government to assist states to host the biennial event, but Dalung stated that it is not in the tradition for hosts to get intervention funds.
He, however, went on to declare that he was overwhelmed by the value added to the country’s economy as a result of the festival which took place from December 6th to 16th.
Dalung expatiated: “The National Sports Festival produced over 163 millionaires because I know of at least one state governor promised each gold medalist one million Naira.
“That state won 163 gold medals and they have made those athletes millionaires. This is besides those who won more than two gold medals.
“Some states promised half a million naira for each gold medal so the number of millionaires will even rise beyond that and I can confidently state that from the National Sports Festival, we have produced at least 200 millionaires.
“That is empowerment and you can’t find any country in Africa where they have been able to empower young people in just 10 days and produced 200 millionaires.
“This has impacted positively on youth development but the greatest benefit of the NSF is the building of bridges between the young people and the bonding which I personally witnessed.”
