Edo ready for BOWFT as Betsy Obaseki inspects Ogbemudia Stadium, other facilities

Betsy Obaseki

Edo State First Lady, Mrs. Betsy Obaseki, yesterday, led other members of the organising committee for the Betsy Obaseki Women Football Tournament (BOWFT) on inspection of the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium and other facilities listed for the second edition of the tournament.

The competition, scheduled to commence tomorrow, will be focused on driving the government’s campaign against drug abuse. Obaseki said, “the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium will host the opening and closing ceremonies of the game. The final will be played here. We have other facilities to be used for the competition, apart from this stadium.

“We are expecting 13 teams, as we had many requests, but can’t accommodate more teams. Last year, it was 12 and next year it might be 14 teams. We are prepared and the girls are ready to do better than they did last year.

“This year’s winner will go home with N5 million naira.

“The philosophy of the tournament is to have a lasting effect on our girls. We had a lot of lashing with human trafficking. We are working hard and trying to create another avenue for our girls to earn dollars. We are working to change the narrative of the state’s image.

We have private and corporate sponsors. The first edition was world-class and we got international recognition from FIFA for our effort. We will improve on it this year. We plan to have other activities aside from football. The competition is not all about football.”

The Edo first lady said the competition last year focused on human trafficking, adding, “this year, it will be focusing on combating drug abuse in Nigeria. We will have discussions around the topic with our young girls and also invite secondary school students to have interactions with us.”

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