18th National Sports Festival, Eko 2012, opens glamorously

The highly anticipated and heavily advertised 18th National Sports Festival – Eko 2012 – opened last night with a glamorous ceremony having the Nigerian Vice President Namadi Sambo, the Lagos Governor Babatunde Fashola, Rivers Governor Rotimi Amaechi and many other dignitaries present. The event had a parade of athletes from all the states represented including the FCT, and a show of some of the tradition and culture of the indigenous Lagos community. Several fireworks were displayed to mark the end of the ceremony, and the game is expected to have a wide audience, since it will be aired on Africa’s leading TV sports channel Supersport, and other terrestrial television. The Games, dubbed Nigerian Olympics, involving every state of the federation holds every two years, and has been useful in discovering new talents, for national teams.