Akure – Dayo Awude, Ondo State Commissioner for Youth and Sports Development, on Wednesday said the state had not forgotten athletes that made it proud at the 2012 National Sports Festival in Lagos.
Awude said this while receiving the executives of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN), who paid him a visit in his office in Akure.
NAN reports that the state came sixth on the medals table in the 19th edition of the game with 18 gold, 12 silver and 28 bronze medals.
The commissioner said he had already taken the issue of the award up, hinting that the government was also planning an upward review of allowances of athletes in the state.
“We will continue to be partners; we are going to work together so that our ministry will become a household name.
“Technically, something will soon be done for athletes that represented us during the last festival,’’ he said.
Awude, however, said the number of players that were currently registered by Sunshine Stars would be reduced for effectiveness.
He said that Sunshine Stars lost the league due to distraction last season.
“We will have to do something about the number of players in Sunshine Stars; the team currently has 47 players in camp, and they have to reduce them to 30.
“Why keep players in camp that we do not need? We have to cut our clothes to our size.
“We are planning to review the allowance of our players upward, so we need to remove the redundant ones. I can’t achieve this alone, I need your cooperation,’’ he said.
Earlier, Akintunde Akinsemola, Chairman of SWAN, congratulated the commissioner on his appointment.
Akinsemola said the associatio
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n was impressed with the performance of the state government in the area sports development and reward for athletes. (NAN)