By Daily Sports on November 20, 2017

The D-Day is fast drawing near as the Nigerian Awards for Sporting Excellence (NASE) slated for Saturday, December 2 at the Lagos Airport Hotel, Ikeja beacons. It promises to be the Mother of All Awards for 2017 as Blue Chip concerns and others have taken the front seat.

Dear reader, let me confess that keeping it on hold thus far is deliberate. As our policy in Daily Sports and by extension this column is to publish the truth and nothing but the truth. It is only when we confirm from the source, we disseminate. And that has been our guide thus far. Little wonder therefore we are being referred to as when it is true, you must read it in Daily Sports. That has been our golden burden, and the cross we are gladly bearing. Such recognition by our numerous readers has kept us on our toes every day. The Nigerian Awards for Sporting Excellence won’t be an exception as we will be releasing information as they come.

It is the best policy that has worked beautifully in our favour. It has continued to attract traffic heats across all ages to our all sports website. This is not beating our chest rather it is to further illustrate that Nigerian Awards for Sporting Excellence is hitting up the sporting world for the good of the country. Stakeholders are identifying with it. In the days ahead you will be reading incisive stories on it all in our bid to keep you abreast.

It is not just another award but this is the one that is rooted in time due largely to its significance to the awardees. One will not go too far, to in totality, agree with the Awards Chairman and veteran administrator that has spent greater part of his life serving and developing sports generally in the country. His disarmingly unassuming nature draws him nearer to many at first meeting.

He is Prince Isidore Oduah former member of the Nigeria Football Association who never minced words by saying that Nigerian Awards for Sporting Excellence (NASE) is one true reward whose time has come as it reflects what an award should be not solicited for or lobbied for and presided over by people with high integrity and discipline over the years in the sector.It is a n award targeted to athletes who have toiled to ensure the country’s name is crafted among the world’s bests in sports.

Nigerian Awards for Sporting Excellence, according to him, is meant to strictly cater for athletes and administrators who have shown enough clout for the love of the country; for sports persons that have significantly touched the lives of our numerous youths and the young ones developing them through sports; for those who have urged and encouraged them to take sports as career from which they earn a living. These persons have also been catalysts of sports development in the land. Their tone-setting agenda is exemplary. These are the categories that would be on parade at the NASE day. 

Yes, there is no perfection in anything by man whatsoever. NASE has been toeing the line of nearing perfection by reaching out to those that deserve to be recognized, which will ginger or prompt the younger athletes and other categories to work harder in their various sporting endeavours, hoping to be recognised when their legs can no longer carry them or retired from positions of power. You may not be far from it if you call NASE a life time award.

When the athletes who have been forgotten by the country they once represented open their shelves and see the NASE their faces would rekindle with brightness and fulfillment. That is the story of Nigerian Awards for Sporting Excellence. It will be a yearly affair.

An insight into what awaits Nigerians and the sporting world came on November 7, 2017 when the traditional newspapers and online portals published:

Nigerian Awards for Sporting Excellence holds Dec. 2 in Lagos 

The Nigerian Awards for Sporting Excellence (NASE) has been scheduled to hold on Saturday, December 2, 2017 at Airport Hotel, Ikeja Lagos.

A statement issued in Lagos on Tuesday and signed by Prince Isidore Oduah, Chairman of the Award Committee, explained that the awards is designed to reward sportsmen and women of Nigerian descent or based in Nigeria, who excel in any given year.

“The idea is to motivate such outstanding sportsmen and women to do even better, and to inspire others to work harder to excel – thus contributing to the rapid development of Nigerian sports,” Prince Oduah, a former Executive Committee Member of the Nigeria Football Association (now known as NFF), said.

The Award Committee Chairman disclosed that NASE would hold annually and would equally honour excelling sports administrators as well as corporate bodies contributing significantly to the development and growth of Nigerian sports.

Prince Oduah noted that the Nigerian Awards for Sporting Excellence, a brainchild of Nigeria’s pioneer all-sport online daily newspaper, Daily Sports  (dailysportsng.com), “has been enthusiastically embraced by critical stakeholders of the Nigerian sporting community.

“Nominees for the maiden awards, as well as some of the dignitaries expected to grace the award ceremony on December 2 would be unveiled in due course,” the Award Committee Chairman stated.

Then, on Saturday, November 18 we announced that heavy weights blue chip companies have backed the Awards. Have a swell time again as you read! . . .

Aiteo, Guinness, Nigerian Breweries chiefs to grace Nigerian Awards for Sporting Excellence

Top shots of leading Nigerian blue chip companies are among dignitaries expected to grace the Nigerian Awards for Sporting Excellence (NASE), scheduled to hold on Saturday, December 2, 2017 at Airport Hotel, Ikeja Lagos.

They include Francis Peters, Deputy Managing Director of Aiteo Group; EdemVindah, ‎Media & Public Affairs Manager of ‎Nigerian Breweries Plc; and Uche Onwudiwe, Marketing Manager of Guinness Nigeria Plc.

“We are proud to be associated with these industry leaders who deserve credit for the great work they are doing in promoting Nigerian sports. We look forward to welcoming them as distinguished guests as we celebrate excellence in Nigerian sports on December 2,” NASE Award Committee Chairman, Prince Isidore Oduah, said in Lagos on Saturday.

He disclosed that many more eminent personalities whose identities would be unveiled in the days ahead would also attend the ceremony designed to reward sportsmen and women of Nigerian descent or based in Nigeria, who excel in any given year.

“Preparations are in top gear and we are leaving nothing to chance in our bid to deliver a memorable awards ceremony that would make every Nigerian sports stakeholder proud,” Prince Oduah, a former Executive Committee Member of the Nigeria Football Association (now known as NFF), further said.

It is not a joke. The showpiece is loading. No one is sitting on the fence waiting; rather all hands are now on deck for a resounding showcasing of the Mother of all Awards. We are shifting discussion to continue on Twitter, Facebook, WhatAPP and Linkedin as we wish the organisers all-embracing outing that would reverberate the length and breadth of our land scape for longer time to come!  It is forward with Nigerian Awards for Sporting Excellence. Keeping shooting hard till next week!

Source Daily Sports

Posted November 20, 2017

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