Former Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Solomon Dalung, will on Monday take charge of a novelty match to commemorate one year remembrance of the passing away of veteran and investigative journalist, Olajide Fashikun, The Punch report.
The match will see friends and colleagues of the late journalist square up against some selected journalists.
The organiser of the match, Sylvanus Ofekun, told Sunday PUNCH, that the idea behind the game was to help raise fund for the project left behind by the late Jide.
“The late Jide was working on a project before his demise, and since no one has been talking about it we thought we should do something.
“The essence is to mobilise cash to give sponshorship to young Nigeria athletes to help them grow. That was something he was working on before he passed away and we don’t want the whole idea to disappear.”
“When we wrote to the former minister, he graciously accepted the invitation and he will be the centre referee on that day.”
The novelty match will kick off by 4pm at the Area 3 playing pitch on Monday.
Fashikun was a former chairman of the Kwara State Chapter of Sports Writers Association of Nigeria; he was also the Sports Editor of the Herald newspaper, Managing Editor of Gong News, a senior sports correspondent at ThisDay newspapers and a former lecturer at Kwara Polytechnic.
Fashikun died on January 27, 2019 in Abuja after a brief illness.
Until his death, he was the Director General of National Sports Development Fund Incorporated NSDFI.A body, whose main objective is to groom and support young athletes to achieve their potential.
He was aged 54.
