By Gbenga Sodeinde
4th of January every year being the day for Ekiti state based sports journalist, Qozeem Oladapo to commemorate his birthday, the chairman, Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) Ekiti State chapter has listed a number of initiatives to mark it.
In 2021, Oladapo came up with the first ever Award ceremony for Sports Journalists in Ekiti State tagged EKITI Sports Press Awards (ESPA) which was held on his birthday in Ado Ekiti.
This time around , he said the awards which has been broadened and rechristened to benefit more stakeholders would hopefully be an annual ritual though billed for a later date owing to a couple of reasons.
The Gogetter as he’s popularly known however said a number of fresh initiatives are in the offing to commemorate his next birthday.
Oladapo while highlighting some of the initiatives billed for unveiling on Tuesday (January 4) said all them are aimed at touching lives and making impacts on humanity especially in the sports and media sectors where he is widely known.
While letting the cat out of the bag, he said some of the intiatives are the official launch of his website, facebook sports page and the commencement of voting for the next edition of Ekiti Sports Awards.
In furtherance of his quest to identify with those in his immediate constituent which is sportscasting, Oladapo who is also the Convener of the Ekiti Sports Circle said efforts geared towards encouraging more members of SWAN to register with the National body through what he called “subsidy”will be unveiled on Tuesday while he also promised to unveil another one aimed at benefitting SWAN members before the end of January 2022.
To crown it all, the Ibadan born broadcaster said a double soccer championships for Ekiti Youths will hopefully be unveiled barring any need to tarry.
Oladapo who said the various intiatives were aimed at welcoming the sports fraternity in Ekiti state to the year 2022 also congratulated all the Ekiti state athletes , coaches and organizing secretaries on the recent receipt of cash rewards for outstanding performances in sport from the state government.
He gave kudos to governor Kayode Fayemi for making good his promise and for approving the Board of the Ekiti State Sports Development Trust Fund that hopes to strive towards reducing over dependence on government for funding of sports.
The Ceo of Ekiti based Sports Promoting outfit, Gogetter Multi Links applauded the patrons of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) Ekiti State chapter including the Rector of the Federal Polytechnic, Ado Ekiti, Dr Dayo Oladebeye, the Ceo of Voki Sports Academy, Dr Adenike Kolawole and former Permanent Secretary, Mr Yemi Owoseni as well as the South West Patron of SWAN, Asiwaju Oyedeji Olajubu and all other individuals who supported the body of Sports journalists one way or the other in 2021 for their commitment and impetus with an assurance to team up with other SWAN members to further reposition and strengthen the Association.