The Central Bank of Nigeria, headquarters, Abuja, on Saturday, defeated their counterpart in Minna by 2-1 to lift the 41st edition of the CBN Cup football competition trophy.
The Calabar branch were not so lucky as they went down 2-1 to Kano branch which emerged third in the competition decided at the Godswill Akpabio International stadium, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
The victory saw the Abuja branch lift the trophy for a record sixth time since the competition started in 1981, having won in 1998, 1999, 2001, 2008 and 2009 respectively.
Speaking at the finals of the competition, the CBN governor Godwin Emefiele said the competition, which involved all the branches and head office, kicked off in eight centres in Akure, Ilorin, Abakaliki, Kano, Kaduna, Gombe, Enugu and Makurdi, adding that the preliminaries of this year’s competition were played between August 22 and September 2, 2022 in the eight centres.
Emefiele, who was represented by the Director, branch operation department of the CBN, Elizabeth Fasoranti, said the competition was aimed at encouraging social relationships among staff members and maintain a healthy workforce through sporting activities.
He added that the significance of the competition, as reflected in the bank’s Corporate Social Responsibility and derived from its sponsorship of all financial institutions football competition, remained a testimony to the bank’s contributions to the development of sports in the country.
Emefiele said this year’s competition was epoch-making as it witnessed the introduction of the maiden edition of CBN “All Female Novelty Football Match” to usher in a sporting activity for the women along with the Governor’s Cup competition, aimed at engendering social creation, cohesion, team building and healthy workforce as well as create a diverse and inclusive sport competition within the bank.
He said, “This competition is aimed at encouraging social relationships between staff and maintaining a healthy workforce through sporting activities.
“This year’s competition is an epoch-making event as the maiden “CBN All Female Novelty football match” took place this morning to usher in a sporting activity for women along with the Governor’s Cup competition to engender social creation, cohesion, team building and a healthy workforce as well as create a diverse and inclusive sport competition within the bank.”
While thanking Uyo (South-South) for hosting this year’s event, the CBN governor congratulated the winners and other finalists and urged the teams who could not make it not to be discouraged but prepare for next year’s competition.
Our correspondent reports that the winners of the finals received a trophy gold medal and a cash prize of N800,000, while the second and third went home with silver and bronze medals as well as N600,000 and N400,000 respectively, while the fourth place team also went home with N200,000.
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