The Flag Officer Commanding (FOC) Eastern Naval Command, Olusola Oluwagbire, says plans are underway to sponsor a football team in the Nigeria football league.
Oluwagbire said this at the opening of the maiden edition of FOC Eastern Naval Command Intra-Command football competition in Calabar on Friday.
Oluwagbire said the essence of the competition was to re-engineer the physical fitness and inspire a sense of comradeship in the personnel.
“This competition is to bring together officers, civilian staff and corps members with us together to re-engineer their physical fitness.
“It is also aimed at strengthening the relationship among the personnel and also to maintain their mental alertness.
“It has been long in coming and we are thankful that we finally got it off today,” he stated.
Oluwagbire who was elated with the turnout of teams for the competition, said it would be sustained.
In a remark, the Speaker of the Cross River House of Assembly, Elvert Ayambem, called for the sustainability of the competition, adding that the state governments have plans to revive sports.
He was represented by David Etta, the Deputy Leader of the Assembly.
He said the unity displayed on the pitch by the players and their supporters was his take home point.
“As a state, we are poise to revive sports. Sports brought us national and international recognition but somewhere along the line, things went bad.
“We (legislature) will work with the executive to revive sports in the state,’’ he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the inaugural match saw the defeat of the headquarters team by NNS Jubilee from Akwa Ibom 1-2.
There will be a trophy and cash prize of N500, 000, N300, 000 and N200, 000 for the first, second and third place respectively at the end of the three days competition.
