by crossriverwatch admin
Cross River State Governor Senator Liyel Imoke has bagged the Football Friendly Governor Award at the Pitch Award which held at Transcorp Hotel, Calabar.
Organized by Matchmakers in conjunction with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Imoke won over 96 per cent of the votes by a cross spectrum of football stakeholders, including sport writers.
Five hours earlier, the Sport Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN), had also conferred the prestigious title of the National Patron of the Association on the Governor.
Performing the presentation in Calabar during the half time of the 2014 World Cup qualifying match between the Super Eagles of Nigeria and the Antelopes of Ethiopia which ended 2 – 0, President of the Association Mallam Saidu Abubakar, said the investiture was in recognition of the excellent contribution of the governor to the promotion and development of sports in the country.
In his response, Governor Imoke said sport development is in line with the tourism development initiative of the state which is aimed at attracting huge traffic that will in turn translate into tangible economic benefits for the people and the state.
“Sports for us is an integral part of our vision in tourism, it fits hand in gloves with our agenda and has the right kind of traffic we want. Sports is tourism and that is what we are practicing”, Imoke explained.
Meanwhile, the National Sports Commission and the Cross River State Government have signed the protocol for the hosting of the 2014 National Sports Festival.
Minister of Sports and Chairman of the National Sports Commission, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi signed on behalf of the Commission while Governor Imoke and Chairman Local Organizing Committee (LOC) and Deputy Governor, Mr. Efiok Cobham signed for the state government.
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