Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Thursday received the Nigerian University Games Association (NUGA) Torch of Unity.
Prof. Toyin Ogundipe, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Board Members of NUGA Games alongside the Minister of Sports, Sunday Dare, presented the torch to the vice president at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The 2022 NUGA games will be hosted by Unilag, from March 16 to March 26.
Osinbajo, who described sports as a unifier, said he was truly honoured to receive the Torch of Unity and thanked Ogundipe and his team for the gesture.
“As a proud alumnus of UNILAG, it is heartwarming to see us hosting NUGA again, 24 years after a highly successful and colourful outing in 1998.
“And I am more than certain that you will bring the capacity for delivering excellence, which Unilag is known for, to bear on the games again this year.
“Sport has always been a great unifier; it offers us an opportunity to step outside our sometimes contentious divisions to embrace one another in support of our teams or in healthy competition and camaraderie.
“The virtues of discipline, dedication, and teamwork, which are indispensable to success in every sporting endeavour, remind us of what it takes to inspire the best in each other and to accomplish great things when we set our minds to the task.’
“As our young men and women from universities across Nigeria gather in Lagos in March to compete in a range of sporting events, we will once again get a chance to see the abundance of talent that makes Nigeria such a special country indeed.’’
He said that for years, NUGA had not only provided a platform that showed the value that every part of the country had to offer, it had also provided a platform for the discovery and honing of individual sporting talent.
Osinbajo said that many of such talents had gone on to represent Nigeria successfully on the world stage.
The vice president listed some Nigerian sportsmen and women who were products of the NUGA games.
He named former Super Eagles goalkeeper, Vincent Enyema, sprinter, Olusoji Fasoba, Olabisi Afolabi, Chika Chukwumerije, Super Falcon’s ex goalkeeper, Precious Dede, Edith Agoye, Seyi Olonfijana, Mutiu Adepoju, among others.
He said that the socio-economic value of the NUGA games was not lost.
Osinbajo urged the athletes who would be competing in the 2022 games and representing their respective universities to do so proudly and in true sportsmanship.
“This is only a prelude to bigger achievements and greater laurels for yourselves and for Nigeria.
“As an administration we are committed to ensuring that you receive all the support you need at every stage of your exceedingly promising careers.
“We commend the administration of UNILAG led by its able vice chancellor for all the work you have done to facilitate a successful tournament.
“We trust Lagos to give us a show like no other. We are after all, Eko for Show!’’ he said.
Earlier in his remarks, Ogundipe said that no fewer than 10,000 students were expected to participate in the games.
He said that the games would be made better than the previous ones as it would be a city competition; city sports.
“What do we mean by that? We don’t want to localise everything to Akoka; we are going to make use of the Teslim Balogun Stadium.
“We are going to make use of Rowe Park; we want to be such that the people that are coming from outside Lagos will feel the Lagos atmosphere.
“We are going to bring culture into it; we are going to bring so many other things into it; moving it outside Akoka means we intend to be involved in the commercial activities.
“When you have a competition in Teslim Balogun Stadium, definitely, there are some commercial activities that will go on around that place and that will make them to feel the impulse of the competition,’’ he said.
On his part, Dare said that 76 universities had signed on to the forthcoming NUGA and expressed optimism that over 100 universities would sign on before the games would start in March.
“The greatest community where you can find talents; that can produce talents for our national teams will come from such games as the NUGA games.
“So, we see here a great potential; and that’s why as a ministry, and as a government, we lash on to bringing back the spirit of NUGA,’’ he said.