Why 6 Out of 60 Awardees Present At Venue - Minister

  Why 6 Out of 60 Awardees Present At Venue - Minister By Niyi Busari Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, has said that cost implication of hosting 60 award recipients in Abuja and keeping the names on the list away from the public were responsible for the low turn out of the awardees, BSNSports.com.ng reports. A day after suspension on all sporting activities was lifted by the Federal Government, the Velodrome of Moshood Abiola Stadium came alive for the first time this year. On Friday, 16th October, 2020 sixty (60) outstanding sports icons were honoured to commemorate Nigeria's 60th year anniversary. Speaking with BSN Sports after the event, Sunday Dare revealed that 3400 names were nominated for the award adding that it was a big task for those saddled with the responsibility of coming up with 60 final list because most of the names deserved to be on the list. "Nigeria celebrate 60th anniversary and we felt that it is the perfect time to also honour heroes and heroines in sports arena. And you know Nigeria has produced in hundreds a lot of athletes who have done this country proud by winning medals. We asked for nomination partnering with several media organisations including SWAN and over 3400 nominations were made. This includes people from diverse background knowledge about sports and did a painstaking task of selecting 60 out of 3400. Sunday Dare further explained reasons why just six out of the awardees were present at the venue. "Cost implication caused the absence of most of the icons. First, we kept the names away from everyone, we don't want to reveal the list to anyone, so, they got the invitation late. We decided to bring just 6 to represent the 60. We wanted to jeep to keep the surprise element of the list. There is also a budget consideration to bring 60 people here, I think we dont have such budget. The plague will be sent to those who were not here." He concluded.