The five-day football tournament, organized for staff of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, has ended in Port Harcourt with team Akwa/Cross winning the NDDC MD/CEO Cup for men, beating Senator Godswill Akpabio Team in penalties.
The trophy for the female teams was won by Team CEPP, after defeating Team FACH by a lone goal in a keenly contested final played at the Sharks Stadium, Port Harcourt.
Presenting the trophies to the winning teams, the NDDC Interim Administrator, Mr. Efiong Akwa, applauded the sportsmanship displayed by the players and noted that the tournament provided a platform for the staff to develop themselves.
Akwa expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the players during the tournament and thanked the Local Organising Committee, LOC, for putting up a good performance and ensuring a hitch-free competition.
A Deputy Director in the Akwa Ibom State office, Mr. Lawrence Essien, also expressed delight at the success of the tournament, noting that all the departments that participated in the five-day football contest showed oneness and comradeship.
He appealed to the Interim Administrator to ensure that the football competition and other sporting activities were sustained to ensure a healthy workforce for delivering the mandate of the NDDC as an interventionist agency.
In his own remarks, the Captain of the Akwa/Cross team, Mr Cyril Etim Ita, said that winning the trophy was not as important as the opportunity the competition gave the players to exercise themselves and keep fit so as to be in the right frame of mind to discharge their duties creditably.
Sixteen teams from all the directorates in NDDC participated in the championship which featured footballers in two categories, the male and female teams.
During the preliminary stages of the competition, 8 male teams and 8 female teams played against each other in Uyo to produce the teams that competed for the third place and the finals in Port Harcourt.