Edidiong Stephen

The true measure of any sporting nation lies not in the trophies it celebrates today, but in the structures it deliberately puts in place to produce the champions of tomorrow.

It is within this context that Governor Umo Eno’s approval for the staging of the 2026 Akwa Ibom Sports Festival deserves recognition as a prudent and forward-looking policy initiative.

The approval, granted at a recent meeting of the State Executive Council, represents far more than the endorsement of another event on the state’s sporting calendar. It is a strategic reaffirmation of the role of sports as an instrument of youth development, social cohesion, crime reduction, and human capital advancement.

Across the sporting world, games of this similitude have long served as indispensable talent incubation platforms.

They provide athletes with the competitive exposure required to assess performance, sharpen technical abilities, and prepare for higher levels of competition. They equally afford coaches, scouts, and agents the opportunity to identify emerging prospects worthy of long-term investment and elite development.

The credentials of the Akwa Ibom Sports Festival are already well established.

The last edition unearthed a number of gifted athletes who have since progressed to become regional, national and African champions, vindicating the philosophy that sustainable sporting success begins with a vibrant grassroots ecosystem.

Jecinter Lawrence Andrew, an SS2 student of Community Secondary Commercial School, Ibiaku Itam II, who won six gold medals for Team ITU at the last edition of the Games, has continued her remarkable rise in athletics. She went on to clinch one gold and one silver medal at the Niger Delta Sports Festival before securing a gold medal in the 4x400m relay for Team Nigeria at both the African School Games in Angola and the African Senior Athletics Championships in Ghana.

Refusing to rest on her laurels, the talented youngster further demonstrated her immense potential by winning one gold and one silver medal at the recently concluded CAA U18/U20 Region II Championships, held in Dakar, Senegal, earlier this month. Her outstanding performances earned her qualification to represent Nigeria at the forthcoming World Athletics U20 Championships, Oregon 26, in the United States, next month.

Jecinter’s story is echoed by Etoro Bassey. The graduate of Mboho Unity Secondary School, Uruan, whose scintillating performance at the 2025 Games earned her three gold medals in the singles, doubles and mixed doubles events of tennis, has continued her impressive ascent in the sport. She went on to win one gold and one silver medal at the Niger Delta Sports Festival before adding another feather to her cap by clinching the women’s singles title at the 2026 CBN National Open Tennis Championships, held recently in Abuja.

The 2025 Festival is replete with similar stories of young talents who, having been brought to the fore through Governor Umo Eno’s life-transforming policy initiative, have gone on to excel in their respective sports, establishing themselves as emerging stars on the regional, national and even international stages.

The 2026 edition therefore presents another opportunity to broaden the state’s talent pool and strengthen its competitive advantage across multiple sporting disciplines.

The benefits extend well beyond talent discovery. The festival will stimulate healthy inter-local government rivalry, encourage mass participation in sports, promote discipline and teamwork among young people, and provide an objective framework for evaluating athletes ahead of regional and national championships. It will also generate economic activity for local businesses while reinforcing sports as a constructive pathway for youth engagement and social inclusion.

Ultimately, the success of the 2026 Akwa Ibom Sports Festival will not merely be measured by medals won or records broken. Its enduring legacy will reside in the number of promising athletes discovered, the opportunities created for young people, and the extent to which it consolidates Akwa Ibom’s reputation as one of Nigeria’s foremost nurseries of sporting excellence. Judged from that perspective, the decision to proceed with the festival is not simply timely—it is a strategic investment in the future of Akwa Ibom sports.

The 2024 African footballer of the year, Ademola Lookman, has joined the Spanish Giant, Atletico Madrid on after the two clubs reached an agreement.

The versatile, dynamic, right-footed 28-year-old has signed with the former Spanish champions on a contract running until 30 June 2030.

The winger has scored three goals in 19 matches across all competitions this season for Atalanta.

Lookman, who scored a hat-trick as the Italian side beat Bayer Leverkusen to win the Europa League in 2024, is expected to cost Atletico around 40 million euros ($47.5 million) according to media reports.

Born in London, Lookman began his career at Charlton Athletic before joining Everton.

After a loan spell at RB Leipzig he signed for the German side permanently in 2019, but was loaned back to Premier League sides Fulham and Leicester before moving to Atalanta in 2022.

Atletico coach Diego Simeone has been asking the club for more reinforcements after Giacomo Raspadori left for Atalanta and Conor Gallagher signed for Tottenham earlier in the winter transfer window.

Meanwhile in a thank you message on X (formally Twitter) the Nigerian international paid glowing tributes to the management, fellow players and fans of Atalanta for making the club his second home.

“To the Atalanta family , after nearly four years, the time has come for me to say goodbye. From the moment I arrived in Bergamo, you welcomed me like one of your own and pushed me to be the best version of myself.

“Together we made history. European champions, a night none of us will ever forget. Scoring a hat-trick in a European final and lifting a trophy with this club after a 61 year trophy drought will stay with me. Winning the Africa Player of the year award in 2024 as an Atalanta player will forever stay with me. Those moments, those emotions, those nights under the lights, they’re engraved in my heart.

“Thank you to my teammates, the staff, the club. To the fans, your passion, your belief, your energy meant everything. From day one, you stood by me and by this team through every moment. Your passion, your voices, your belief never faded and together we achieved.

“Every cheer, every banner, every away trip meant something. Thank you for making Bergamo feel like home and for giving me memories I’ll carry forever”.

Grazie di tutto, ciao 💙🖤”

Senate President, Godswill Akpabio on Sunday renewed calls for a return to grassroots football development, warning that Nigeria’s football future could remain bleak unless concerted efforts are made to discover and groom young talents across the country.

Akpabio made the remarks in Abuja at the commencement of the second edition of the Senate President’s U-18 Unity Cup, a youth football tournament he instituted.

This was disclosed in a statement released on Monday by his media aide.

The competition, which kicked off at the Old Parade Ground in Garki, has attracted 21 teams, including 16 male and five female squads drawn from different parts of the country.

The Senate President, represented by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Sports Development, Senator Abdul Ahmed Ningi, said the tournament was conceived to revive the talent pipeline that once produced legendary players for the national teams.

According to him, the future of Nigerian football depends on early talent identification and investment.

“With these young men showcasing their talents, this is the future of Nigeria, and there is no way you can grow sports if we don’t go to the grassroots.

“In times past, the Late Keshis, the Okochas, the Kanus, the Amokachis, the Ikpebas and the Tijani Babangidas, who brought glory to Nigeria, were discovered in these kinds of tournaments,” he said.

He added that the President Bola Tinubu administration has already signalled a strong interest in sports development.

“I have seen tremendous signal from President Bola Tinubu in putting sports on the front burner, therefore sports administrators must key into this opportunity that the President has shown in the last two years. It should not be business as usual,” he said.

Akpabio assured all that the U-18 Unity Cup would be sustained annually to groom early talents capable of representing the country at major continental and global events.

The Tournament Coordinator, Hon. John Bassey Ekpenyong, hailed Akpabio for recognising the importance of grassroots competitions in nurturing youth potential.

“This will ensure that future generations of Nigerian youth continue to benefit from this platform, promoting unity, sportsmanship, and national development,” Ekpenyong said.

In the opening fixture, Jaguar Football Club of Abia defeated Amahus Football Club of Yobe 1–0. The tournament continues this week in Abuja.

Nigeria once relied heavily on grassroots football as the foundation for building national squads, particularly during the late 1980s and 1990s.

Local youth academies, inter-state school competitions and community tournaments produced some of the country’s greatest football talents, including Rashidi Yekini, Stephen Keshi, Nwankwo Kanu, Daniel Amokachi and Austin Okocha.

However, the system declined as funding dwindled, school sports collapsed, and private youth clubs struggled without structured government support.

The result has been a shrinking talent pipeline, with national team selectors increasingly turning to foreign-born players while local leagues suffer from low competitiveness.