The Lagos state Head of Service (HOS) Games ended on a high-note at the Agege Stadium, Lagos on Tuesday.
In the female football competition, the Public Service Office, PSO, mauled Lagos Sports Commission 3-0 to win the trophy and gold medal.
Opeyemi Makinde scored a brace from set pieces. Converting penalty in the first half and a free-kick in the second half, the third for her side. While Rosemary Dennis scored second goal in the early minutes of the second half.
In the male category, the enterprising Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, LASTMA thrashed Surveyor General’s Office 3-1 to claim the trophy and the gold medal.
Ajala Ismail capitalized on the defensive error of Surveyor boys to outpace his marker and slotted in the first goal in less than six minutes of play.
The second goal for the LASTMA boys came through another
defensive error as the Surveyor team’s keeper parried a corner kick into his own net in ten minutes of play.
The one sided first half witnessed another beautiful goal from the LASTMA midfielder Ashade Moruf who dribbled his way from the midfield to beat the onrushing goalkeeper of the Surveyor’s team to rapped first half 3 goals advantage LASTMA.
The Surveyor boys however got a consolatory goal in the second half to leave score line 3-1 advantage LASTMA.
In the female category for the Thug of War, Lagos State Sports Commission defeated the Auditor General for Local Government to win the trophy while in the male category, Lagos State Sports Commission emerged winner after beaten the Vehicle Inspection Service, VIS to win the trophy.
For the male Category in Ayo, Yusuf Saidi from SUBEB came first, followed by Ayodele Ademola also from SUBEB while Momoh Lateef from Works and Infrastructure came third. In the female category, Aiyegbusi Olukemi of Lagos State ports Commission emerged winner, while Oladokun Taiwo from SUBEB was runner-up and Aderemi Bukola from Home Affairs emerging third.
In the Scrabble event, those who won in the male category are Oloro Noheem (Land’s Bureau), Aiyedun John (Works and Infrastructure) and Akanbi Oladipupo (Works and Infrastructure), while in the female category, the winners are Dr. Ikejiofor Esther (Agric), Olabisi Oluwaseun (LSSC) and Ajayi Abimbola (Transportation), among others.
The Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu in a brief chat with Lagos Panorama at the event said he was impressed with the level of the HOS Games and assured that the welfare of civil servants would be of utmost importance to his administration.
Sanwo Olu also noted that “this event beyond recreation is an opportunity for us to reactivate the achieve spirit as public officers, as civil servants. You know sports is beyond being a unifier. It crosses boarder where we know one another and it bring about unity. That is also a reflection of what we put on our health agenda. People need to leave healthy”.
“It key into our own sports agenda that we must take sports to school, to the grassroots and using sports as an enabler for other growth agenda we have in the state” he concluded.
HOS, Hakeem Muri-Okunola, while speaking said the origin of the event dated back to 2006 when the former HOS, Yakub Balogun introduced the annual inter-agency HOS Football competition with the objective of fostering the spirit of sportsmanship and camaraderie, as well as promoting physical exercise among public servants in the state.
He said on his assumption of office, the tournament was expanded and taken to a new level with the introduction of six additional sports, thus transiting from HOS Cup to HOS Games, adding that the newly introduced sports were Ayo, Chess, Scrabble, Tennis, Table Tennis and Tug of War.
Other dignitaries at the event were the Chief of Staff to the Governor Hon Tayo Ayinde, Commissioner for Youth, Sports and Social Development Hon segun Dawodu, Chairman Lagos State Sports Commission Sola Aiyepeku and the Director General Lagos State Sports Commission Hon Toyin Gafarr, Oba Saheed Elegushi and a host of others.
