Kaduna State Government has pledged to support the Army in its efforts at promoting sporting activities in the state.

Gov. Nasiru El Rufai stated this in a message at the closing ceremony of this year’s inter-brigade sports championship organised by 1 Division of the Nigerian Army in Kaduna on Friday.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the Governor was represented  by the commissioner for internal security and home affairs, Mr Samuel Aruwan.

El Rufai expressed gratitude to personnel of the division and Army towards securing the state and its people from criminality.

He noted that the Army had conducted operations in parts of the state to assist civil authorities towards rooting out criminality, and creating a favourable socio-economic environment.

The Governor also expressed gratitude for the civil-military cooperation projects in the area of medical outreaches as well as construction of bridges and roads.

He congratulated the participants and urged them to sustain the sporting tempo.

He added: “We are all aware that troops need to be mentally and physically sound to withstand the rigours of their duties.

“The vision of the Chief of Army Staff is to have a professionally responsive Nigerian army in the discharge of its constitutional roles, and physical fitness is an important part of attaining that vision.”

El-Rufai said that the Nigerian army and 1 Division in particular had always made meaningful contributions to sports development in Kaduna State and the nation.

“Nigerian Army personnel have represented the states and the nation in both national and international sporting events,” he said.

The General Officer Commanding (GOC) 1 Division Nigerian Army Kaduna, Maj-Gen. Faruq Yahaya, explained that the essence of the championship was to improve troops’physical fitness and also contribute to sports development in the Army and country at large.

Yahaya commended the participants for exhibiting high standards of discipline in the course of the championship.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalled that 900 army personnel participated in the five-day competition and were drawn from 3 Brigade Kano,  31  Artillery Brigade Minna   and 1 Division Garrison  Kaduna.

NAN also reports that some of the events that took place during the activities included boxing, football, table tennis, squash, swimming, tug of war, volleyball and obstacle crossing among others.

At the end of the event, 1 Division Garrison emerged the overall winner with 28 gold medals, 14 silver and three bronze medals, while 3 Brigade came second with 17 gold, 21 silver and eight bronze medals.

The 31 Artillery Brigade came third with 10 gold, 13 silver and 19  bronze medals