by crossriverwatch admin
The faces of journalists who won laurels at the sports competition during the just concluded Press Week of the Cross River State Council of the NUJ smiled broadly on Wednesday as they were handed their cash prizes and medals.
Speaking at the ceremony which took place at the Ernest Etim Bassey Press Centre, 3rd Avenue, the Chairman of the Press Week, Mr Omini Oden, said the award of cash prizes was in keeping to the promise made during his inauguration as the chairman of the Press Week Committee some months ago.
According to him, the award of prizes to winners is a novelty which should be sustained in subsequent press weeks of the Council. “This evening we are handing over prizes worth over half a million naira which is a novelty in this state and we hope this would be sustained in subsequent editions of the Press Week” Mr Oden stated.
He said eight different sports including football, table tennis, scrabble, draughts, monopoly and chess featured in the sporting event while a lecture, dinner, and interactive sessions were held in the enlightenment session of the week. He commended the members of the council for their co-operation and active participation in the various events.
Mr Ndoma Akpet, the Chairman of the Cross River State Chapel of the NUJ said the Council from the onset had prepared to, “practicalise the promise to award winners at the sporting event so the fears by some people that it was a political promise was misplaced”.
He called on members not to show a less enthusiastic attitude to sporting activities which he says provide appropriate extracurricular activities to keep the body and mind fit. “So many sponsors provided us sporting items including monopoly, chess, table tennis but a number of our members don’t seem to be interested in making use of these sporting items, this attitude should change”.
Mr Judex Okoro, the Chairman of the Sports Committee of the Press Week stated that the sporting events in the next Press Week would be expanded and called members of the various chapels to start preparations on time. “The winner of the football game in the next Press Week will smile home with 200,000 naira and in every other sport, the prize money will be increased”. He stated.
Winners included George Obi of NAN who won in the table tennis and got N20,000 cash prize, Ndoma Akpet, NUJ Chairman, Chess and Draught and got N20,000 for each and Mr. Tom Moses won the scrabble contest to cart home N20,000. The Correspondent Chapel which defeated NTA Calabar took home the sum of N50,000 naira.
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