NYG Asaba 2023: Fmr. Olympic athlete Ijirigho laments abysmal outing of Cross River contingents
Serial winners, Team Delta were crowned champions of the 2023 National Youth Games (NYG) last Saturday at the Stephen Keshi stadium, Asaba. Team Delta dominated the week-long event after amassing an unprecedented 116 medal haul to retain its number-one position in the country.
A breakdown of the medals shows that Team Delta bagged 51 gold; 34 silver and 31 bronze medals to emerge top of the table. . Lagos State came second with a total of 61 medals comprising 21 gold; 19 silver and 21 bronze while Edo State trailed with 21 gold; 15 silver, and 17 bronze medals.
The dominant showing of Team Delta at Asaba 2023 did not come as a surprise to many who are knowledgeable with grassroot sports development in the country. Delta State is reaping from a well-laid-out plan, a template that has been doggedly followed since the days of former Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan. His successor, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa stayed with the template. Delta State has continued to dominate both the National Sports Festival which is open to all age grades and the National Youth Games.
Lagos, Edo, and Bayelsa have been faring well in this competition as evidenced in their positions on the medal table.
The story is different for Cross River, a State that once dominated the NYG. Cross River State under Governor Liyel Imoke was the doyen of grassroots sports development in the country. During the period that may aptly be referenced as golden era of Cross River State sports, Imoke contracted former national athlete and one-time captain of Team Nigeria to the Olympics, Bruce Ijirigho to establish a comprehensive Sports Development programme for the state.
Ijirigho told a reporter in 2022 that Imoke “demonstrated a lot of political will by backing the programme with legislation, personally interfaced with us on any matter concerning the programme, provided all the funds we needed and above all, gave us a free hand to run the programme.”
The programme was an instant success. According to Ijirigho records don’t lie, between December 2009 and October 2015, over 300,000 young boys and girls participated in the programme.
The programme engineered by the Imoke administration to propel youth sports development and performance to the top in Nigeria recorded unprecedented growth in four year. Cross River State won the National School Sports Festival between 2011 and 2015 as well as doubled as catchment area for athletes who represented and won laurels for Nigeria in international competitions. In 2015, the programme was .suspended.
Ijirigho lamented the fate of Cross River in the just concluded NYG Asaba 2023 where the state contingents finished 26th, hauling 5 silver and 8 bronze medals without a gold.
He said: “From 2011 to 2015 when Kimasports was implementing the Comprehensive Sports Development Program in Cross River State, we would have been first on this medals table with a wide margin.
“Today, Cross River State is near the bottom (at 26th place) from where we picked up when we started the programme in 2009. Cross River State dominated and we were national champions at the National Youth Sports Festival for four consecutive years before the programme was killed in July 2015.
“Such a successful human capacity development and poverty alleviation programme was allowed to die in present-day Nigeria due to the ignorance of the leaders about its positive impact on the psyche and prestige of the governor and citizens of the state. I believe Senator Otu can pick up the pieces and rebuild the dynasty. May God grant him wisdom to catch the vision and run with it.”
By: Archibong Emmanuel
(Snr. Reporter)
