Heritage Bank Plc has restated its commitment to improved youth and sport developments in the country through sponsorship of sporting activities in tertiary institutions.
The bank’s Managing Director, Ifie Sekibo, made the promise this at the just concluded 14th edition of the West African Universities Game (WAUG) held at the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Sekibo, who was represented by a Senior Manager of the bank, Oladapo Lawal, stressed that the financial institution had strong desire to see young Nigerians succeed in other areas other than what they studied in school.
While urging government at all levels and private institutions to pay closer attention to sponsorship and innovation, Sekibo maintained that the bank, as the sponsor of WAUG, was working towards achieving its vision to become a bank of national reckoning for which it was established.
He said: “Heritage Bank believes in development. These are University Students and we want to level our legacy on University students that is one of reasons we decided to sponsor the event. We have the tenacity to develop and sport is a way of developing youths in the country. We want to encourage the youth and I believe that this type of games are capable of robbing off on the students in future.
“I would advise the federal government to look in this direction, because when we support this kind of project, we are developing our country. The government needs to do more in sponsorship drive of sports in the country, “he noted.
Meanwhile, UNIPORT emerged the overall winner of the 14th WAUG, 2018 amassing 125 medals to top the log.
A breakdown of the figures shows that UNIPORT won 75 gold, 26 silver and 24 bronze medals to beat University of Lagos (UNILAG), the first runner up that scored 16 gold, 24 silver and 16 bronze. The second runner up was University of Cape Coast, Ghana that bagged 9 gold and 16 silver medals.
The football event went to University for Development Studies, Ghana that beat Bayero University, Kano(BUK) 4-2 on penalties after the duo played out a 1-1 draw within 90 minutes regulation time and 30 minutes extra time.
Declaring the competition closed, the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, congratulated the winners and indeed all the participants for participating in the competition and commended the UNIPORT for organizing what he described as one of the best championships in the history of WAUG.
The Minister said that the university games and sports generally should be encouraged in institutions across the country to build friendships and remove barriers among students at national and international levels.
Adamu promised Federal Government’s continued support for sports in schools nationwide.
In his speech, the Vice Chancellor of UNIPORT, Prof Ndowa Lale, commended the bank for its sponsorship to the successful competition.
While congratulating the winners and the losers at the competition, the university don commended University of Cape Coast particularly for lifting the football trophy regarded as the king of sports.
It would be recalled that the bank recently supported the premier edition of Africa Freestyle Football Championship and continued to sponsor youth entrepreneurial initiatives, particularly, The Next Titan,” a reality television show.
