Sports Minister, Dalung Mourns Eddie Bekom 

Dalung described the news of Bekom’s death as painful and unfortunate.

The South South Vice President passed on Sunday, July 16, 2017 following third degree burns  sustained from a  ghastly gas explosion.

He wondered why such an ugly incident had to single out Bekom’s family who has so far lost three  of its members with another three still battling for life at the Federal University Teaching Hospital Abakiliki , Ebonyi state.

“Sometimes when we ponder over the brevity of human life, we are left with so many unanswered questions. This is a sad development for everybody with human feeling. Three family members gone in a swipe!

“We can only pray for God to grant the soul of the departed perfect peace in his bosom. This tragic incident which has left many in shock.”

A grief-stricken Dalung called on Nigerians not relent in their prayers and support in every way possible to ensure that those still alive get the best attention available to aid their survival.

“We still have the opportunity to save two of Eddie’s surviving children and also an in-law with  our prayers and support in cash and kind.

We must stay true to them to ensure that no further lives are lost.”

The Minister called on the Cross River State Government which the late Eddie Bekom was working for until the sad incident to provide the needed assistance to the other members of the family alive.

Youth and Sports Minister Barrister Solomon Dalung made the appeal at the weekend during the final of the Hockey Federation’s Super League between Niger Flickers and Police Machines held at the Abuja National Stadium.

Barrister Dalung implored other state governments to invest in any sport of their choice to reduce  restiveness in their states.

“Your excellency, I want to passionately appeal to you and various state governments to develop interest in sports. The young people are the agitative constituency. The young people are restive but once you create an enabling environment for them, there will be no more security challenges. The best we can do is to deploy resources to sports development and engage these young people to be great champions, then there will be stability in this country.

“Today, wrestling is like a personal possession of Bayelsa state. Their state government has deployed resources to Wrestling. No matter how many times you organize a wrestling championship, Bayelsa will win because they have invested in it. If Niger state has been winning in hockey, what will stop us from going to Niger as the home of hockey. I therefore implore your excellency, to deploy resources to building of infrastructure in Niger state,  support the hockey team, open up the space and give football a very good challenge.

“I look forward to when hockey will be competing shoulder to shoulder with basketball and football.”

The Minister also congratulated the new board of the Nigeria Hockey Federation and charged them to embark  on a wide search of membership for the hockey federation.

“There is so much for Nigeria to make in sports and government alone cannot drive sports to success. The private sector is a cardinal and key partner in sports development. We will create the enabling environment to ensure that the so-called autonomy is made perfect. Federations will be autonomous and they will source for funds and sponsorship, organize their competitions while government will continue to support with grants”.

Barrister Dalung added that after the inauguration, the newly elected federations will henceforth make public their books of accounts so that any interested investor will be guaranteed transparency and accountability.