2024 NSF: LOC congratulates newly elected SWAN Exco, seeks media publicity
The Local Organizing Committee (LOC) for the 2024 National Sports Festival, scheduled to take place in Ogun State, has congratulated the newly elected Executives of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN), Ogun State Chapter.
In a congratulatory letter obtained by madeinafricasport.com, the LOC Chairman, Chief Bukola Olopade, expressed confidence that the newly inaugurated SWAN Executive in the Gateway state will work as a team to propel the association to greater heights.
Chief Olopade, a former Commissioner for Youth and Sports in the Gateway state also made it known that the LOC is counting on Ogun State SWAN, and sports writers in the country as a whole to publicize and project the multi-sports event satisfactorily when it takes centre stage in 2024.
“Congratulations to the new SWAN chairman and other Executive members,” Olopade said. “I’m convinced because of how dependable the Association has been in the last couple of years, I’m also counting on Ogun SWAN and the Nigerian Media as a whole to give the festival the right reportage.”
Chief Olopade assured that the LOC as empowered by the Ogun State government under the leadership of Governor Dapo Abiodun, will do everything humanly possible to ensure that the 2024 National Sports Festival will be top notch and glamorous on all front.
On Wednesday, Ogun SWAN elected Mr. Michael-Azeez Ogunsiji as its new Chairman, he takes over from veteran sports writer Alhaji Hakeem Akintunde.
Other Executive members are Mr. Taiwo Fabajo (Vice Chairman), Mr. Segun Folarin (Secretary), Mr Bayo Adegboyega (Assistant Secretary), Mr. Michael Adesanya (Treasurer).
Road to 2024 NSF
Ogun State government, on Tuesday, July 11, 2023 announced its readiness to hold the 2024 National Sports Festival (NSF) in fulfilment of an earlier promise made by the Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, as it unveiled leading professionals in Nigeria’s sports sector as Local Organizing Committee (LOC) members.
The state government, earlier in May, had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Federal Government, through the Federal Ministry of Sports and Youth Development.
During that occasion, Governor Abiodun had told the Federal Government delegation led by the then Minister of Sports, Sunday Dare, that Ogun, being a state noted for recording many firsts in all spheres of human endeavour, was ready to host a world-class festival in 2024, asserting that the State had capable hands and sponsors ready to support the bid.
To that end, the former minister, while expressing the FG’s acceptance of the proposal noted that the choice of Ogun State as the next host of the NSF was due to its culture of sports development, availability of sporting infrastructure and potential to host a befitting festival that would linger for a long time.
Unveiling the 16-man local organizing committee in Abeokuta, the state capital on Tuesday, Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mr. Tokunbo Talabi, in a statement listed Hon. Bukola Olapade as the chairman of the LOC alongside Mr Tilewa Adebayo, a sports enthusiast, as co-chairman.
Olopade, the progenitor of the gold label Access Bank-sponsored Lagos City Marathon, Abeokuta 10km Marathon race, and the Remo ultra-race, remains topnotch in the world of sports in Nigeria.
