Pictures of the Bayelsa Polo Club Ground Breaking Ceremony

Gov Dickson Puts Yenagoa on Nigerian Polo Map

The quest by Bayelsa State of joining other polo playing states in the Niger Delta region and the growing family of Nigerian polo community which has been on the drawing board for years, took a concrete leap recently, with Governor Seriake Dickson on the driving seat.

Bayelsa capital city, Yenagoa has been on the waiting list of polo playing cities in Nigeria for years, but all that changed a fortnight ago, when Bayelsa State government commenced the process of building a world-class Polo Club as part of efforts to promote tourism and leisure in the state.

The polo loving Gov. Dickson who has already started riding ahead of the first ever polo tournament in Yenagoa, stated that  the desire by  his government to convert the Gloryland Castle to a world-class hotel  and a polo facility, was borne out of the need to create an environment conducive for investors.

“We are very hopeful that investors will soon be trooping into the state for business and sporting leisure.  Expectedly, this will  generate more revenue,’’ Dickson said while speaking at the facility’s ground-breaking ceremony near the Gloryland Castle in Government House.

The governor said the project, when completed, would serve as a sporting facility, particularly for the noble game of polo and also help to drive the development of the state's tourism sub-sector. He said the present administration in the state was poised to build a new Bayelsa through sports, tourism, peace, job creation and wealth.

According to Dickson, his administration attaches great importance to sports and tourism because they both have the capacity to create labour and wealth. “Not only that, both sports and tourism strengthens bonds of friendship among individuals and groups,’’ he added.

The governor said the conversion would also boost  Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) for the state. He also expressed government’s readiness to partner with the Nigeria Polo Federation (NPF) in developing the noble game of polo, and work toward staging  the first ever Bayelsa polo tournament.

The governor said the present administration would leave no stone unturned in  making Yenagoa and indeed Bayelsa the number one polo destination and the safest state in the country.

With Yenagoa coming on board, the NPF effort at promoting the game of kings in the Niger Delta would have been achieved with Rivers, Delta and Akwa Ibom states already in the swing of the polo fever.

The Commissioner for Sports Development, Chief Mitema Obordor who was part of that high profile crowd that included Executive Secretary, Baba Kyari and other NPF top shots, members of Bayelsa State Executive Council, House of Assembly members and business chieftains, implored youths of the state to shun cultism, embrace polo and make good use of the various sporting facilities and programmes in the state.

In his remarks, the NPF President, Francis Ogboro, assured the governor of NPF’s preparedness to collaborate with the state government in this historic effort at bring the king of games, polo to the oil rich state.

“This will help to ensure that the game of polo is fully entrenched in the sporting and tourism calendar of Bayelsa State and the entire Niger Delta Region as well,’’ he said.

On completion of the polo club project, Ogboro said the federation would not only participate in its commissioning but would also inaugurate the governor as the first playing member as well as the captain of the Yenagoa Polo Club.

Also speaking, a representative of the Managing Director of the contracting firm, NHD Interbiz Project Limited, Alhaji Nasiru Danu who is a member of Port Harcourt Polo Club, said the Yenagoa Polo Club project was expected to be completed within 90 days.

The Managing Director said that the club would occupy an area of land spanning about 9.8 hectares. He said the facility would consist of a standard club house, playing field, and horse stables as well as grooms quarters.

Before now, Port Harcourt Polo Club which was founded in the early 1970s has been flying the flag of the oil rich Niger Delta region at the various polo tournaments across the country. Port Harcourt was later joined by Abraka Turf Club, the nation’s premier private polo facility built by Prince Albert Esiri in Abraka, Delta State.

The historic Ground Breaking Ceremony also witnessed the presentation of a book entitled “The Great Polo Clubs of the World’’ and the federation’s compendium by the NPF boss, Ogboro to Governor Dickson in appreciation of his passion for the game of kings and  his effort at transforming the state through sports tourism.

The NPF compendium which was lunched last year contains the history of the game in Nigeria and the world, the rules of polo, names of polo clubs and their members in the country, as well as the NPF annual calendar that gallops-off with fanfare every in the ancient kingdom of Katsina which is revered as the home of Nigerian polo.

With new initiatives in Uyo in Akwa Ibom and Jalingo in Taraba, Sokoto working hard to come out of decades of comatose and now Yenagoa, all waiting on the wings to jump into the national train, the glamorous NPF national tour that covers the entire country, promises to be more exciting, more competitive and much more thrilling season for polo buffs all year long.