Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, has announced a reward package for athletes that represented the state at the twenty twenty-two National Sports Festival held at Asaba, Delta State.

Bayelsa placed a historic second behind Delta, surpassing its earlier best position of 3 recorded at the 2020 festival hosted by Edo State in  2021

Governor Diri, who received the state’s contingent inside the Executive Council Chambers of the Government House, Yenagoa, recalled that Bayelsa won 109  gold  104  silver and  87 bronze medals.

The governor announced 1,000,000,000 each to individual who won gold medalists and 750,000 thousand naira each for team gold.

He also rewarded individual with silver medalists with 500,000 thousand naira and 300,00 thousand naira for team silver medalists while individual with bronze medalists got 300,000 thousand naira and 150,000 thousand naira for each team bronze medalist.

Governor Diri also gave Coaches and secretaries of gold medal teams 500,000 thousand naira each while their assistants got 300,000 thousand naira each.

Those in silver category got 300,000 thousand naira each and their assistants 200,000 thousand naira.

He also rewarded non-medalists with 15,000 thousand each.

He equally announced automatic employment for those yet to be employed in the state sports council and directed the Ministry of Youth and Sports to work out the modalities.

Earlier, the Bayelsa State Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Mr. Daniel Igali, said Bayelsa was the only state that rewarded its athletes instantly at the games, which inspired them to exceed their target.

While thanking the governor for approving funds for the contingent, Mr. Igali stated that the team broke 6 records in swimming in the men and women categories as well as in weightlifting.

He stressed that as one of the premier sporting states in the country, there was need to upgrade its sporting facilities in order to be able to host the National Sports Festival in no distant time