A/Ibom Sports Commissioner Launches Grassroots Dev Initiative

By Patrick Titus, Uyo

Following the successful hosting of 2025 Sports Festival in Akwa Ibom State, a database has been created by the Ministry of Sports to monitor the progress of outstanding athletes at the festival with a plan to groom them for national and international events.

Sports Commissioner in the State, Elder Paul Bassey announced last weekend in Uyo while meeting with the College of Sports Supervisors in the state., thanked them for their roles in the successful hosting of the 2025 state sports festival.

Bassey, who also congratulated all the local government areas that took part in the festival, tasked sports supervisors in the 31 local government councils of the state on the need to develop sports at the grassroots in line with the Arise Agenda of the Governor Umo Eno-led administration.

He said, “today, we just came to thank all of you like I did promise, for supporting the vision of His Excellency, the Governor and because of the successful outing, the Governor has given the inter-ministerial committee a mandate to plan for the 2026 edition of the festival. We have one year to plan, and I am very certain that the next edition will come out even better.”

The Sports Commissioner thanked Governor Umo Eno for reviving the State Sports Festival, adding that the gains are enormous. He called for collaboration with the local government councils to develop sports in the state in line with the Arise Agenda.

On the promise made by the governor to reward successful athletes at the festival, the Commissioner assured the supervisors that a memo has been sent to the Governor and that very soon the money would be released.

Speaking earlier, the Dean of the College of Sports Supervisors, Hon. Etinyene Offongekpe thanked Governor Umo Eno for approving the sports festival which he said promoted unity in the state and helped in the discovery of talents.

Offongekpe also commended the governor for appointing Elder Paul Bassey as the Commissioner for Sports, describing him as a square peg in a square hole. They promised to continue working closely with him for the development of sports in the state.

The meeting was attended by the Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, a member of the Sports Festival Inter-Ministerial committee, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry as well as Directors.