By Sedara Oluwadara
Foremost sports organisers, the Grassroot Sports Federation of Nigeria, GRASOF, has sent a congratulatory message to Lauretta Onochie, Chief Samuel Ogbuku, on their appointment as the substantive Chairman and Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, respectively.
The duo were appointed by the President, Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, alongside other board members, to be at the helm of affairs of the interventionist agency.
President of the Grassroot Sports Federation of Nigeria, Comrade John Ekpenyoung, while congratulating the new Chairman, and the Managing Director and other board members of the NDDC, urged them to bring their wealth of experience to bear on issues relating to the development of the Niger Delta region.
A statement by the National Public Relations Officer of the Grassroot Sports Federation of Nigeria, Mr. Patrick Ndubuisi, quoted the President as saying that the board members have been carefully selected out of many possible persons, and so, they should work assiduously to ensure all sectors, particularly sports is revived under their watch.
He said, “On behalf of the Grassroot Sports Federation of Nigeria, I wish to congratulate the new Managing Director of the NDDC and other board members on their appointment.
Out of several others, you have been selected, and so, GRASOF celebrates you all.”
“The NDDC has now been entrusted to your care. We join other stakeholders of the region to express our confidence that you will make yourselves, your states and the President proud, by working to see that the aims of establishing the agency is achieved.”
“We in the sports sector, also believe that you will beam your lights on sports development, a sector which is critical and has over sixty percent of youths actively participating. So we urge the new board to also make sports development their priority, by supporting existing programmes, as well as initiating new ones.”
“The Grassroot Sports Federation of Nigeria, since it’s establishment several years ago, has been organising sports activities across the country, and so, the body is ready to partner with the Niger Delta Development Commission NDDC, in carrying out sporting programs that will benefit youths within the region,” he concluded.
