Date: 2019-10-23

The Speaker, Kwara state House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Salihu Yakubu Danladi, today received in his office the Technical Committee of 2019 Nigeria Polytechnic Games (NIPOGA), which is to be hosted by the Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin.

Hon. Danladi who commended the leadership of the Polytechnic for its strides to ensure a successful hosting of the Games reiterated the economic benefits in hosting NIPOGA noting that "the event will significantly affect the lives of our people and we must support that."

"The programme will promote Nigeria's unity, as it will engage people from diverse backgrounds in different sporting activities and we will be glad to be instrumental to that; we will offer maximum support for us to succeed in this project."

"I implore you to keep the host communities abreast of the event and seek their cooperation, so that influx of new faces won't be strange to them and for them to be prepared to take economic advantage of the 10day event", the Speaker said.

He charged the management of the Polytechnic on stable academic calendar and sustenance of significant curb of cultism menace in the polytechnic, saying that stable academic calendar and cultism free nature of academic institutions will increase the competitiveness of the polytechnic.

The Chairman, House Committee on Tertiary Education, Hon. Wahab Opakunle expressed his confidence in the management of the Polytechnic to host the program successfully and assured that the Speaker and the 9th Assembly will support the program, given the Speaker's flair for sports.

He emphasized the need to ensure good security arrangements for the event to ensure a hitch free outing.

The Acting Rector of the Polytechnic, who doubles as the President of 2019 NIPOGA, Dr. Yekeen Oyebode explained that he led the team to the Kwara state House of Assembly to intimate the Speaker and Honourable members of the activities of the Polytechnic, specifically about the 2019 NIPOGA to be hosted by Kwara state Polytechnic.

"Kwara State Polytechnic is the first higher institution in Kwara State with sixty (60) accredited programmes. This year's NIPOGA commences on 6th November, 2019 and will last for 10 days; NIPOGA is a game for all the Polytechnics in Nigeria, which was hosted last by Kwara state Polytechnic in 1981. Kwara state Polytechnic will be receiving about fifty four (54) Polytechnics which will take part in about fourteen (14) sporting activities."

Oyebode added that "the event will help discover talents and showcase cultural endowments and uniqueness, and therefore called for the support of the 9th Assembly towards a successful hosting of the event."