Date: 2017-09-05

The winners in the ongoing Nigerian Communication Commission Lawn Tennis tournament will get N15 million with the first, second and third positions getting N7 million, N5 million and three million respectively.

Speaking in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, Head, Administration, NCC, Mr Kehinde Oladipo, said the prize money "is enough for somebody to invest and make something meaningful out of it."

Oladipo said the "Teams cut across the states of the country. We don't micro-manage them. The initiative of the tournament is indeed, primarily aimed at empowering the youths. One of the ways to remove the youths from the streets is to empower them.

"The commission feels it should do something that is unique to take our youths off the street, to give them what they are passionate about and it is going to take the game of lawn tennis itself to the next level."

He also berated successive governments in the country for relegating other sports to the background.

"I am not satisfied with the attention successive governments are giving to tennis and other games outside of football in the country. It is like Nigeria is a nation of football.

"All other games are relegated to the background and this is why the commission feels like contributing something. That is why we picked tennis as one of the sporting activities we want to sponsor to improve its quality so as to take it to the next level."