Skip to content
Home News Record participation at the 26th Nigeria University Games

Record participation at the 26th Nigeria University Games

FISU 25 April 2022

NUGA 7

 

The 26th edition of the Nigerian Universities Games was a potpourri of glitz, glamour, and glory. The Games, hosted by the University of Lagos, had over 10,000 student-athletes and officials across 80 Nigerian universities in attendance. The Games were themed as “City Games” and unlike previous editions, which had all sporting activities at the host school, the University of Lagos took some of the events to state facilities like the Teslim Balogun Stadium and Rowe Park.

 

After a five year hibernation from the University of Markurdi hosting the last edition in 2017, the 26th edition took place from the 16-26 of March 2022 and had 17 medal awarding sports: athletics, badminton, basketball, chess, cricket, handball, hockey, judo, karate, scrabble, football, squash, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, and volleyball and exhibition events like boxing, boating, canoeing, and kayaking. The President of the Nigerian University Games Association (NUGA), Professor Stephen Hamafyelto, said during the opening ceremony that athletes for the upcoming Chengdu 2021 FISU World University Games in China will be selected from the participants of the 2022 NUGA Games.

 

NUGA 3Photo Credit: WeShoot SportThe games weren’t without interesting events, one of which was the marriage proposal on the handball court by students from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos commented on these events saying, “The NUGA Games have provided opportunities for students to interact and network amongst themselves and have also been a tool for cultural integration and talent discovery.”

 

The impact of volunteering was immensely felt as this was the first time volunteers were actively used during a NUGA Games. A total of 1,000 volunteers, which included both undergraduate and post-graduate students, were tasked to help with the daily protocol of the games and to ensure that the guests were well taken care of.

 

The volunteer recruitment & screening process began on 30 November 2021 and was led by the Nigeria FISU Ambassador Adebayo Olatunde. The criteria for selection were volunteer experience, training availability, vaccination status, skillset, and reason for applying. After screening, the volunteers were grouped into the following sub-units: ushering, logistic & protocol, media (photography, videography & sport writing), graphic design, technical services, medical, calisthenics, and security.

 

Volunteering at mega-events such as the NUGA Games comes with a lot of benefits, including meeting new people and networking. Adeyemi Henrietta, a final year student in the Department of Mass Communication at the University of Lagos, shared her experience as a volunteer at the Games. She said, “I got to meet and work with total strangers, which was very interesting, and it added to my teamwork experience. I made quite a number of friends and learned from my co-volunteers. It was truly a memorable experience.”

 

Managing volunteers is a herculean task that comes with immense growth in one’s leadership ability. The media volunteer team lead Adeyemi Ajibade described his experience as eye-opening. He said, “I have experience in volunteering, but the NUGA Games was my first involvement in sports volunteering and also with a team that large.”

NUGA 1Photo Credit: WeShoot Sport

“The entire NUGA team consisted of the University management, local organizing committee, project lead, and a vast pool of volunteers. Engaging these stakeholders while pursuing objectives was an eye-opening experience for me,” he added.

 

The events came to a close with the University of Portharcourt emerging as overall winners with 61 gold medals, 29 silver and 30 bronze, for a total of 120. Host university, University of Lagos, finished second overall with 33 gold medals, 34 silver and 19 bronze, totaling 86 medals, while Nile University Abuja came third with 38 medals including 15 gold, 10 silver and 13 bronze.

 

The NUGA flag was handed over the Vice Chancellor of University of Jos Professor Tanko Ishaya as the university will host the next Games in 2024. It is expected that the NUGA Games will get better and the volunteering culture will continue to become entrenched in university sport.

 

c ezeani byline