 Let me first bring you the very warm greetings of Mr. President who would have liked to be here himself and as a matter of fact was prepared to come himself except that he had a clash with a previous engagement which could not be moved. So I bring you his very warm felicitations and his greetings. I'm very delighted to welcome you here today, the very best of the best Nigerian athletes, the great Nigerian team to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, 58 outstanding athletes and 18 world-class coaches. When the games begin on July the 23rd, 2021, you will as team Nigeria be joining other athletes from over 210 countries and territories of the world in the biggest and most spectacular sporting event on the planet, the Olympic Games. Everyone of you participating in the games is opening a page in history for yourselves, for your families, for your communities and of course for our great nation. Your performance at the games will inscribe your names in national and world sporting history and you carry the hopes and aspirations of millions as you compete in Tokyo. But you will in this endeavor have the assurance of the prayers and the best wishes of all of us Nigerians. You will also carry with you the encouragement of the great exploits of Nigerian Olympians before you. Such legends as Chioma Junwan who won the gold medal at the 1996 Olympics for the long jump and became the first black African woman to win an Olympic gold medal in a field event. Of course the Super Eagles in 1996 who won the gold medal for football, that was a team that had the greats including Daniela Mokachi, Augustine Okocha, Celestine Babayaro, Sunday Oliza, Tarebo West, Kano Anko, Abiodno Olufemi, Imano Lamunike, Imano Babayaro, Dabal Awal, Joseph Dosu, King Gliobieku, Mobi Obaraku, Uche Oketyuku, Celestine Patissi, Victor Equaiba and of course Wilson O'Ruma. That was the year we defeated the world's best footballing nations. Argentina and Brazil and we all held our heads high and for anyone who thinks we're joking maybe they haven't seen that basketball, the exhibition basketball game on Saturday. With the USA team, especially that amazing block by Preciosa Chua against KD Kevin Durand who is probably the best player in the NBA right now. So precious, you are the real MVP and in the year 2001 in Sydney, again we beat the world, we beat the best in the world. We won the gold in the four by four hundred meters relay after the American team was disqualified for using performance enhancing drugs. That was the team which had Clement Chuku and the late Sunday Badda, Enye Fiong, Udo Bong, Jude Moye and two other members of the team who were part of the heats, Filiariz Gazzama and Nduka Awazio. So you stand on the shoulders of giants and with the quality and intensity of the training that you receive and your exploits during the qualification series for the Olympic Games, some of which we've seen already, I'm confident that by God's grace you will again make history and beat the best in the world. I commend the very great work done and still been done by the staff and management of the Ministry of Youth and Sports led by the very able, innovative and hard-working Union Minister of Youth and Sports, Sunday Dairy. I also commend the various sporting federations for developing these talents to enable Nigeria to participate in nine different sports this time. I understand that you are departing first to the city of Kizarazu in continuation of your pre-game training before your participation in the Games. And I think you should make good use of this window to prime yourselves fully for the competition ahead. You must also commend the Nigeria Olympic Committee under the leadership of engineer Habu Gumel and the International Olympic Committee under the leadership of Mr. Thomas Bak, as well as the government and good people of Japan for their determination to host the 2020 Olympic Games in spite of the global challenge posed by the coronavirus pandemic. This is important as we need to continue as much as possible to live our normal lives, even with the presence of the COVID-19 virus. I've been assured that every member of the team, our delegation to the Games, have been vaccinated against the virus. And it's necessary for you to continue to observe all COVID-19 protocols and to strictly adhere to the playbook of the IOC in order to safeguard your health and of course of those around you. The Olympics is about fair play, it's about honesty, about teamwork and respect for others and of course friendship. You must do your part to promote these Olympian ideals as you compete. Fair play, fair play clearly enjoins every athlete not to use any prohibited substance or to cheat in any way. Half of the joy and satisfaction of victory is that it was won fairly. I trust that you will as worthy ambassadors of Nigeria represent our nation excellently. So distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, it is now my exceptional honor and pleasure in a moment to formally hand over the Tokyo 2020 Team Nigeria contingent to the Nigeria Olympic Committee and to unveil also in a moment the official outfit and kit of Team Nigeria.