After series of trials and eliminations at the Local Government level, schools and colleges in Akwa Ibom State will this week end engage in the Zonal Finals of The 11th Akwa Ibom State /NNPC/ Mobil Schools Athletics Championships.

Over 6,000 students drawn from all the Local government Areas of the state are involved in the last leg of the elimination that will qualify students for the grand finale billed for the Eket Stadium in the first week of December.

With a one off scholarship grant as main attraction, competitions will be held in 12 track and field events including boys and girls 100 metres, 200 metres, 400 metres, 800 metres, 100 and 400 metres relays, long and high jump, javelin and discuss among others.

The eight sports zonal finals whose tracks will be set ablaze include those at Eket, Ibiono, Ikot Abasi, Ikot Ekpene, Abak, Oron, Uyo, and Etinan.

Coach Aniedi Dickson,the Akwa Ibom State Director of sports who is coordinating the championship with his colleague in the schools sports directorate said in Uyo that after the milestone of ten consecutive championships, Mobil Producing Nigeria needs to be commended for forging ahead with the grass roots programme that has helped the state over the years to discover budding talents.

“ I do not know what we could have done without Mobil. This competition is unique and the beauty of it all is its consistency” He said.

He also spoke on efforts being put in place to ensure that this year’s competition is fraud free as Principals of schools will be directly involved in the screening of students that will be presented at the Eket final.

“ I am working hand in hand with Prince David Ekefre my colleague in the School’s Sports Directorate and what we have put in place is an ID Card scheme that has to be authenticated by the principals after the Zonals before a student can be considered eligible for Eket.

“In the past, we discovered that some fraudulent games masters fielded athletes who had left school all in an effort to win ephemeral glory at times with the connivance of some Zonal Coordinators who are also interested in declaring their zone as winners to the detriment of the development of the students and the future sports development of the state.”

Mrs Paulina Ntuen of Abak zone,, the only female coordinator welcomed the idea, believing that this time around her zone will emerge victorious since only proper students will be allowed to compete.

“ Without pointing accusing fingers at anybody, allow me to say that all those years of fake victories has finally come to an end. Watch out for Abak in Eket come December” she declared.

Ikot Ekpene Zone is the defending champion of the competition that has been won by Eket Zone five times.