The Minister of State for Education, Goodluck Opiah has urged sports men and women to always imbibe the spirit of fairplay whenever they step into any competition.
Opiah gave the charge on Tuesday at the opening of 2023 Federal Education Sector Games (FEDUGAM) at the Nasarawa State University, Keffi.
He said that athletes must imbibe the spirit of friendship notwithstanding which who emerged as the champion of the competition.
“The game is very important; this is an avenue to foster friendship.
“It is an opportunity for the Federal Ministry of Education to come together in line with the objectives of the game.
“Participation is more important than the win,” Opiah said.
Chairman, Steering Committee of FEDUGAM, David Gende, encouraged all the agencies under the Federal Ministry of Education to always participate in the Games given the prime place of the annual tournament.
Gender who is the Director, Human Resource Management at the Ministry, said they would always do things to encourage oneness in the agencies under the ministry.
“We urge all the agencies to team up; we are encouraging as many as possible to join.
“So, we hope that in the next edition we will have more of them participating, and this is key to the games.”
Consultant to the Games, Chief Matthew Okeyinka called for wider collaborations between the various agencies, adding that sports can only develop when there are synergies between private and public entities.
“We are trying to do our best to seek essential support and partnership with different people.
“The issue of sponsorship or partisanship is a symbolic relationship and no organization is a “Father Christmas”; you have to enter into partnership.
“It is a give and take thing,” Okeyinka said.
There were march-past by the participating Departments and Agencies in the ministry.
NAN also reports that over 500 hundred sports men and women are competing in football, scrabble, badminton, basketball, table tennis, volleyball, handball among others.
