Hyacinth Chinweuba
Prince Ned Nwoko, has given a N20 million reward to the Team Delta for their outstanding performance at the 19th National Sports Festival in Abuja.
Nwoko who hosted the Team and their officials to a gala night on Monday 11th February, 2019, at the Mount Ned Nwoko Resort, praised the hard work spirit, which has distinguished Deltans and given them control in sports, banking, media, oil, Nollywood, theatre and other sectors.
The Queens counsel also expressed excitement that one of the beneficiaries of his scholarship was among the Team that represented Delta at the national sports competition; adding that he took special interest in her when months ago, he organized a sporting competition at the Mount Ned Nwoko Resort.
“Sports means life to me. When I was growing up as a young child, I had a choice of going into sports. However, I chose to read Law. Today, you can no longer make those choices, because you have the opportunity of studying in the University and still do sports”.
“This is another reason I decided to build a Sports University called STARS University, one of its kind in the whole of West Africa. It makes me feel proud as a Deltan and Nigerian wherever I am in the world. I have decided, we must catch them young and provide them with the best of opportunities to excel in life”, Nwoko said.
The humanitarian, therefore dolled out N20 million to encourage the courageous Team, while also promising to place 20 of them on scholarship to study anywhere with N400,000 each annually for the duration of their studies.
Responding to Nwoko’s gestures, the Chairman of the Delta State Sports Commission, Chief Tonobok Okowa appreciated him (Ned) for his passion for sports and youth development.
“Though the Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa had done so much for us in the Commission, we are proud of Ned Nwoko for his supports and encouragement. I assure you that this boost will spur our sports men and women to do much more in subsequent sporting editions”, Tonobok Okowa said.
In addition, the CEO of Warri Wolves, Comrade Moses Etu commended Prince Ned Nwoko for his unquantifiable sports sponsorships in recent times, including sponsoring NUJ Loin Tennis Competition.
Etu however, called on other well meaning Nigerians to emulate the selfless personality of Prince Ned Nwoko, maintaining that he has done exceedingly great in sports mentorship and sponsorship.
It was indeed a night of splendour, depicting colours, glitz and glamour. The presence of two prominent Nigerian sports legends, John Fashanu and Chioma Ajunwa equally added some sort of spicing on the event.