By Akeem Busari
The development of football in Ekiti State received a major boost when it received assurance of partnership by Pace Sports and Entertainment Marketing Company, the organizers of the prestigious Higher Institutions Football League (HiFL) in Nigeria.
Speaking after the meeting held yesterday in the Lagos office of the company, the Chairman, Technical and Competitions Committee of Ekiti State Football Association, Bayo Olanlege, described the outcome as ‘strategically important’ to the development football in Ekiti state.
Earlier, Olanlege had introduced some of the products of the state FA which included the Ekiti State Football League for U15 boys, Bet9ja Ekiti Football League, Ekiti All Tertiary Institutions League, the Financial Institutions League and Ekiti State Governor’s Cup.
“The vision of the Ekiti State FA is basically to create a football culture in the state and to use it as a tool for human capacity development which is one of the 4 key Agenda of His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Ekiti state, Dr. John Kayode Fayemi’s administration,” he explained.
He requested that the company make available a slot for the winner of Ekiti state All Tertiary Institutions in the next season.
Reacting, the Chief Strategy Officer of the company, Olamide Adeyemo expressed his appreciation for the commitment of the Ekiti state FA in creating laudable products which should drive the citizens of the state interest towards football and sports in general.
He assured that Pace Sports and Entertainment Marketing company would key into the Ekiti State Tertiary Institutions football league.
He added that though plans had been concluded for this season’s edition of the HiFL, Ekiti State Tertiary Institutions would be considered for the next season, as the company had planned to create three more slots at that time.
On his part, the Executive Director, Sola Fijabi, promised that his company would give necessary support to help drive sponsorship for the Ekiti State All Tertiary Institutions league.
He admonished the Ekiti state FA to work harder to attract potential individual and corporate sponsors in the state for its several products.
