The Nigeria School Sports Federation on 17th of January, 2013 unveiled its 5th schools sports mascot at the Alfred Diette Spiff, multipurpose Hall, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Dawari Kalio the designer of the mascot who gave the name of the mascot, as Chaare in Eleme dialect, meaning smiling alligator.
He described the mascot as friendly, strong, playful, aggressive, intelligent, fast, passionate and loving, the typical alligator of the Rivers people was picked as the symbol.
For the logo, Dawari Kalio explained that both athletes and officials are to serve Nigeria with love, strength and faith. The logo was placed on the school bag of the mascot depicting the garden city of Port Harcourt as the seat of governance, where changes are evident and rivers of possibilities.
The costume of the mascot he said symbolizes the unity and love for Nigeria and the education revolution in Rivers State, which also signifies sports and academics in nation building, as well as promoting unity beyond borders.
According to Dawari Kalio, why he chose alligator is that it is an amphibious animal found in the mangrove swamps of Rivers State, naturally endowed with many rivers vast arable farmlands, natural resources like crude oil and rich cultural heritage. According to him, the people of Rivers State are hospitable and exceptionally friendly and draw their strength from their linguistic diversity as well as common aquatic culture, having the ability to maneuver difficulties with great dexterity.
Hon. Fred Mbombo Igwe, the Sports Commissioner of Rivers State affirmed the Sports Ministry’s readiness with the state and the Nigeria School Sport Federation to commence the games.
On his part, the President of Nigeria School Sport Federation, Mallam Ibrahim Mohammed appealed to the entire public and officials to help the federation by cooperating with laid down rule so as to feature the right age grade for the competition, saying that what the Nigeria Federation needs is to produce talents that would take over from the aging sportsmen and women in all sports in the country.
He passionately appealed to the handlers of them to take the children as their own, as many of them are leaving the shores of their place of origin for the first time. He said has no doubt in the ability of Rivers State in hosting a memorable competition given to the state track records of hosting national sports festivals. ###
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