Director General of the Bayelsa Governor's Football Tournament, Mr. Ono Akpe has cited the state governor, Senator Douye Diri's unwavering passion for grassroots sports development as the reason for the success story of the tournament.
In an interview with journalists ahead of the kick-off of the competition, also known as the Prosperity Cup, Mr Akpe said the governor is very concerned about youths of the states earning a living through sports.
The Director General was emphatic that Senator Diri's love for sports and his passion to meaningfully engage the youths with sports as the platform, was responsible for the tournament's success and continuous innovations.
According to him, the governor’s direct involvement in the competition has driven members of the Central Organizing Committee (COC) to give nothing but their very best, adding that the governor is excited about the progress the competition has made over the years.
Akpe, who noted that apart from increasing the prize money to one million naira for local government champions and five hundred thousand naira for runners-up, said this edition would see all the outstanding players in the local government areas selected to form a team that would proceed to the second round.
Throwing more light on the selected local government teams, Mr. Akpe explained that the essence was to ensure that no good player is left out because his team exited the tournament in the preliminary round.
The hard-working Director General disclosed that the decision to have selected teams of outstanding players from the local government level of the competition was the governor’s idea to ensure that players who did not make it to the money-spinning stage will also have the opportunity of being watched by foreign scouts.
As preparations for the kick-off of the biggest grassroots football competition in Nigeria enter the home stretch, Akpe believes that more players from this season would join the players who are on the verge of traveling to Turkey, Malta and Lithuania for greener pasture, noting that five players from the previous scouting programme are set to leave the country with their visas already sorted out.
He said the reports from the security agencies whenever the competition is on, speaks volume of the impact the showpiece has made in the state.
