The National Youth Games, NYG Asaba 2023 started officially on Saturday with the opening ceremony. It presently has about 35 states and the federal capital territory, FCT represented. According to available information, only Zamfara State did not show up.

Meanwhile, news went viral on the social media and some few newspapers on Monday that athletes were being maltreated by the host, Delta State but they failed to balance their reports.

The NYG in Asaba had suffered the worst reportage since inception. The past Host, Ilorin, Kwara State was not criticised the way Delta is presently been condemned even though the athletes, officials and others are enjoying more in terms of everything. The Game is being reported in negative light probably because it is being hosted by another host for the first time.

Meanwhile, those criticising and painting the State in negative light forgot that during the last National Sports Festival, NSF in November, Delta presented the best of facilities and organisation hence it got praises from all quarters.

However, it is like some are hellbent in ensuring that the State fails in hosting the ongoing Youth Games successfully and what some of the critics failed to understand is that they might be working towards chasing investors or sponsors from coming to support sports in the country. It is on records that many sponsors abandoned their sponsorship because of the negative reports they got.

As it is, the NYG is solely being sponsored by the government of Delta State and maybe with support from some few sponsors or partners. The implications of reporting the host state in the negative is that they might be forced to pull out of hosting the event subsequently which I believe will not be the intention of the State because of their love for the games.

The implication also is that, if by mistake, Delta pulls out, no State will be interested if they hear what the present host is experiencing. In the first place, States are not showing interest to host the National Sports Festival let alone the Youth Games which was just introduced seven years ago.

Another implication is that if Delta State decided to pull out, which might not happen and no state shows interest, the Games might go into extinction and what it means is that we might not have a platform for discovery of talents to replace the ageing ones and by extension, our Sports will suffer.

Even the issue that is raising dust was addressed but because some people are hell-bent to ensure that Delta fails to have a successful outing, they decided to give a dog a bad name so that they can hang it. The funniest thing is that the media was briefed on what happened and yet negative report was what was painted to the public.

It would be recalled that the project manager, in charge of Hostels and Accomodations, Dr. Ademola Aare who incidentally was director of Grassroot, Federal Ministry of Sports before his retirement, explained that the fault was not that of the Host.

Dr. Aare disclosed that postponement of the Games affected their arrangements. The Games was scheduled to hold during the holidays and most of the schools were to be used for accommodations but unfortunately, they couldn’t have access to them. For instance, the students of Dennis Osadebey University were writing their examination when the Games commenced hence they couldn’t tell them to vacate the school environment because of the Games.

Dr. Aare however called on those responsible for the negative information to encourage the state for showing interest to host in the first place. He claimed that it is not easy to host because of the enormousity of what it entails. Recalled that Cross River State couldn’t host the NSF for more than seven years but a State just hosted the NSF and now hosting the Youth Games despite the financial crunch affecting the country.

Meanwhile, during a tour of facilities, we discovered that the organisers have made better arrangements for the athletes. The place they have provided is more conducive and decent and the athletes occupying the facilities testified to it.

The bottom line is that those who have the mentality of Pull Him Down Syndrome (PHDS) should have a rethink. Nobody is gagging anybody from reporting anything but they should be objective in their reportage because their reports may make or mar the Games either now or in future.