Contrary to report that Ondo State has pulled out of the maiden Secondary School Sports Games tagged DAWN Games, the Director General of DAWN Commission, Dipo Famakinwa has refuted this report, saying, Ondo will be part of the competition holding in Lagos.
“DAWN Commission, the Regional agency managing the Southwest integration agenda, would like to state that the Governor of Ondo State, His Excellency, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko was duly notified, along with his brother Governors, of the design, the processes and planning of the DAWN Games 2014,” he said.
He added: “And of course, Ondo State has been duly represented at all the preliminary meetings leading to the hosting of the Games. Indeed, at the initial Stakeholders’ Meeting comprising the six (6) States where the Rules and Regulations and Timelines for the DAWN Games 2014 were agreed upon, Ondo State was represented at that meeting by the Director in charge of Sports in the State Ministry of Education.
“Also at the Joint Technical Meeting of all the Stakeholders, and Inspection of facilities for the Games which took place in Lagos on April 23 – 25, 2014, Ondo State was fully represented at the meeting by Mr. Jide Fawolu, the Director, School Sports, Ondo State. In fact at that meeting, the State representative submitted the duly completed DAWN Games 2014 Preliminary Entry Forms to the Technical Sub-committee, which was a confirmation of the State’s participation at the DAWN Games,” Famakinwa said.
He continued, “It must also be stated that the National Sports Commission (NSC) has been a major stakeholder in the planning of the Games. In fact, Dr. Steve Olarinoye and Mr. Peter Nelson have represented the NSC South West Zone as members of the Central Working Committee and Local Organising Committee of the Games.”
He said that games for Secondary Schools in the Southwest is designed as an annual event to be hosted on a rotational basis among all the six States in the Region.
“The Games forms part of the holistic roadmap for the economic and social integration of the Southwest Region of Nigeria, especially with regards to the discovery of new sporting talents, creation of opportunities for personal development, culture promotion, employment generation, crime reduction, and to further engender brotherly relations among the constituent States, as well as reinforcing the unique affinities of the people of the Region,” he said.
The DG added: “It is part of the overall strategy for leveraging and optimizing the favourable demographic swing within the Region on a sustainable basis. The Games have nothing to do with politics. In fact the Commission has no such mandate in the pursuit of all its actions.
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