By Festus Ahon, ASABA

THE Delta State Government has a signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU with a consultant, Hideaplux Limited in a bid to revive the Principals’ Cup soccer competition among secondary schools across the state.

Signing the MoU on behalf of the Government, Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Festus Agas reiterated the commitment of the Governor Ifeanyi Okowa-led administration to human capacity development.

Congratulating Hideaplux Limited on the initiative, he however, urged the firm to source for sponsorship across the country for the competition to succeed, adding that   government would not provide funds for its sponsorship.

GETTING SET… The Secretary to the Delta State Government (SSG) Hon. Ovie Festus Agas (middle) and the Commissioner of Basic and Secondary Education Barr. Chiedu Ebie( 2nd right) along with Hideaplux Limited team led by its CEO, Tony Oritse-Pemu (2nd left) unveiling the Delta Principals’ Cup logo in Asaba.

On his part, Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of Hideaplux Limited, Mr. Tony Oritse-Pemu said the decision to revive the “abandoned Principals’ Cup competition” stemmed from the need to redirect the energies of talented students into productive ventures including sports.

Pemu said: “From experience I discovered that a lot of our youth need mental reset for them to be great. I was also able to identify the fact that our young people with great sporting talents no longer have a platform to showcase and grow their talent.

“As a result, they now channel their energy into social vices like cultism, brigs dry, truancy and hooliganism, among others. So we thought of engaging one of the most effective platform to use in tackling these negative trend and what came to our mind is the secondary schools being an environment where we have a lot of youth at their emerging stages in life.”

He noted that “Our dream is to make this event a  household name  among secondary school students  in the state  and football  lovers in Nigeria.”

The preliminary round of the competition billed to kick off in February next year would run through various stages while the final is expected to be played on  May 27, 2017.