By Goodluck Ikiebe
The Nigerian government through the Federal Ministry of Sports and Youth Development, has received the report of the Committee of Experts to review the Delta 2022 Medal Table.
A statement by the Permanent Secretary, Ismaila Abubakar, in Abuja, says that after a comprehensive review of the report of the Committee of Experts, the Ministry hereby releases the Final Medal Table for the 21st National Sports Festival, tagged Delta 2022 in line with the recommendations of the Committee.
According to the statement, “the Committee submitted that human errors occasioned by administrative laxity, inexperience, general delays, non-awareness and some in cases, the misapplication of the substantive Festival Rules led to the flaws observed in the earlier computed Medal Table, which has now been rectified and approved by the Ministry”.
The statement added that the full application of the Rules meant that the results from some events in Athletics, Scrabble, Weightlifting and Wresting, which did not meet the criteria for scoring were not recorded on the reviewed Medals Table, while in accordance with Rule 28 of the World Para Powerlifting Rules and Regulations (March 2022), only the results from ‘Best Lift Medal’ were recorded for the sport of Powerlifting.
“Consequently, it is significant to note that most of the States retained their positions on the Medal Table thereby maintaining the status quo. However, some States lost some Medals as the Committee applied all extant Rules guiding the organisation of the National Sports Festival as applicable in Games of this magnitude”, it explained.
The statement further states that in order to correct the observed anomaly and to uphold the integrity of the Festival, the Ministry would take appropriate administrative procedures to prevent future reoccurrence as recommended by the Committee.
“In the reviewed Medal Table, Delta State maintained its lead with a total of 280 Gold, 168 Silver and 120 Bronze medals followed by Bayelsa, Edo and Oyo States, which pooled 106 Gold, 69 Gold and 43 Gold medals respectively”.
The comprehensive Medal Table for the 21st National Sports Festival, Delta 2022 is presented as follows:-
SN
STATES
GOLD
SILVER
BRONZE
TOTAL
1
Delta
280
168
120
568
2
Bayelsa
106
100
83
289
3
Edo
69
77
134
280
4
Oyo
43
42
53
138
5
Lagos
40
56
73
169
6
Rivers
35
44
96
175
7
Kano
20
26
31
77
8
Akwa-Ibom
14
14
32
60
9
FCT
13
12
28
53
10
Ogun
12
15
35
62
11
Imo
11
7
24
42
12
Abia
7
11
18
36
13
Ondo
6
17
32
55
14
Anambra
6
9
24
39
15
Cross-River
6
6
5
17
16
Kwara
4
8
38
50
17
Kaduna
4
6
7
17
18
Osun
3
11
13
27
19
Plateau
3
8
26
37
20
Katsina
2
4
8
14
21
Benue
2
2
3
7
22
Niger
1
3
6
10
23
Taraba
1
3
6
10
24
Gombe
1
3
5
9
25
Yobe
1
3
3
7
26
Enugu
1
1
7
9
27
Kogi
1
1
3
5
28
Borno
1
0
7
8
29
Adamawa
1
0
3
4
30
Nasarawa
0
6
13
19
31
Bauchi
0
6
9
15
32
Ebonyi
0
4
5
9
33
Ekiti
0
4
3
7
34
Kebbi
0
3
6
9
35
Jigawa
0
2
3
5
36
Sokoto
0
1
0
1
37
Zamfara
0
0
0
0
TOTAL
694 – Gold
683 – Silver
962 – Bronze
Total – 2339
The statement says the details of Medals by States and by Sports would be made available online and via the Ministry’s social media handles.
“With this release, the Sports Ministry has brought to a logical close, all matters relating to the issue of Medal table for the 21st National Sports Festival”, it concluded.
