The opening ceremony of this year's Nigerian Universities Games Association (NUGA) Games, the country's premier inter-collegiate sporting competition, took place yesterday inside the University of Benin.
With the opening ceremony, which came up at the Samuel Ogbemudia Sports Complex in the university over and done with, the focus now shifts to the athletes who over the next seven days will jettison academic pursuits in favour of sporting honours.
With over four thousand athletes representing just over 80 universities, the NUGA Games has come a long way from its modest beginning back in 1966 when its first took place at the University of Ibadan.
Actually, the idea of having an inter-university games amongst Nigerian institutions was mooted a year earlier, in 1965, by the Nigeria Sports Council following the successful staging of the inaugural West Africa Inter-University Games (WAUG) which took place at the University of Ibadan from March 22 to 29 of that year.
Through the years
Five universities were in attendance at the inaugural NUGA Games: Ahmadu Bello University, University of Ibadan, University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), University of Lagos and University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
Forty-five years down the line, the NUGA Games has grown in leaps and is now in its 23rd edition, returning to an institution that had previously hosted the Games in 1980, six years after the event's torch and anthem was introduced to the Games at the 1974 edition held at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
As is the tradition in most parts of the world where there is a blend between sports and education, the NUGA Games was introduced to help students pursue their degrees and yet still maximise their potential in sports.
And that is what a vast majority of the athletes at this year's NUGA Games will be aiming at as they attempt to outdo one another and etch their names as well as that of their respective institutions in the record books, as well as on the medals standings as the rest of the country watches on to find out who will be the next generation of Nigerian collegiate superstars.
Past stars
Although not in the same league as America's National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), which organises competitions as well as athletic programmes for the over 1000 colleges and universities in the United States, the NUGA Games has produced a lot of stars who went on to represent Nigeria in various sporting disciplines at international competitions, including the Olympics.
The likes of Adokie Amiesimaka and Felix Owolabi, who were both integral parts of the Green Eagles side, which won the country's maiden Africa Cup of Nations title in 1980 were both former stars of the NUGA Games in their days as students at the University of Lagos as were former footballers Tunde Charity and Edema Fuludu, who appeared in the colours of the University of Benin (UNIBEN) and at some point in time featured for the Nigerian national team.
Victor Ezekwesili, another former star of the national team, also took part in the NUGA Games while still a student at the University of Ife. Same goes for England-based Seyi Olofinjana, who for close to a decade was a regular feature in the Super Eagles but only after he had been discovered at the NUGA Games while studying for his first degree at the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH).
Former Nigerian sprinter, Calister Uba, as well as Ikana Mbora, a former star of the Nigerian women's national basketball team, also took part in the NUGA Games as students of UNIBEN with the latter taking part in three NUGA Games between 1992 and 1998.
The NUGA Games as also the breeding grounds for star athletes like former world 60 metres indoor champion Olusoji Fasuba from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Uche Isaac and Franca Idoko both from Ahmadu Bello University amongst many others.
But undoubtedly the biggest star the NUGA Games has produced in recent years has been Yagazie Chukwumerije who won a bronze medal in Taekwondo at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China four years after claiming a gold medal at the 2004 NUGA Games hosted by the University of Port Harcourt in Rivers State.
And he is optimistic that a new star will be born at the end of UNIBEN 2011.
"The NUGA Games was by far the biggest event in the sports calendar for most of us back then," Chukwumerije told NEXT from his base in the United Kingdom.
"Looking back at the Games in Port Harcourt, I don't think I would have been happy if I had not had the pleasure of experiencing it.
He added: "It would have been unthinkable for someone such as myself who is so much in love with sports to go through the university and not, even if only once, get to experience the thrills of competing at the NUGA Games.
"Every edition produces its own stars and this year's NUGA Games will not be an exception." Chukwumerije was already a household name of sorts before heading off to the 2004 NUGA Games having represented Nigeria a year earlier at the All Africa Games where he won a bronze medal. As a result, he arrived at UNIPORT 2004 as outright gold medal favourite in the men's heavyweight category.
Second chance
A similar scenario looks likely to replay itself at this year's Games but this time around, not in taekwondo but in badminton where former African women's champion, Grace Daniel,will be hoping to add another title to her already vast array of honours.
Daniel, whose career appeared over and done with after she was involved in a near fatal road accident back in 2009, has since then not featured in any major national or international competition. But she is hoping to use the NUGA Games as an avenue to build back her confidence ahead of next year's Olympic Games in London, England.
"I don't know if I am the favourite for the title here but I just want to use it to see how much work I still need to do to get back to an acceptable standard," said Daniel who is a Mass Communication student at the Adamawa State University.
"It has been very tough getting back after the accident," continued Daniel who suffered multiple fractures and ligament damage to both her legs. "But I have worked very hard to get back to this stage, and I now want to see much more work I still need to do as I would like to have a shot at making the team to the next Olympics.
"It won't be easy, but I have to give it my best shot, which is what I think every other person here will be aiming to do so as to get the attention of the national coaches," she added.
Daniel, who like Chukwumerije before her was at the 2008 Olympic Games, hopes that one of the athletes from the 15 sporting disciplines that will be competed for at this year's Games gets to become a household name in years to come. But it is likely that her hopes will be dashed as the standard of the Games appears to have dropped in recent times.
Falling standard
No longer does the average university athlete produce the level of performance capable of attracting the attention of coaches at the Games.
This development has in turn affected the marketability of the NUGA Games. Although, many organisations have associated themselves and their products with UNIBEN 2011, it is unlike in the past when companies rushed fell over themselves just to be associated with the Games.
As if the reduction in the number of sponsors and the dearth of quality athletes wasn't enough, the situation has in turn seen television coverage of the Games become nonexistent. Most of the country's best prospects prefer to travel overseas to study at foreign universities, oftentimes on scholarships.
This was something that was commonplace in the past but hopefully should make a return this time around after the organisers of the Games hooked up with Lagos-based television station, DBN, who, besides providing coverage of the Games, have to market the games. A number of fundraisers were held across the country in a bid to give the event more publicity and raise the projected three billion naira that organisers stated were required for a successful hosting of the Games.
Publicity
However, outside the host university and its environs, not much is known about this year's NUGA Games so much that even a former star of the Games like Ikana Mbora, who is currently the secretary general of the Nigerian Tennis Federation, can't help complaining about the lack of publicity.
"I will say that there is inadequate publicity and they (the organisers) should have gotten some people involved more than what they have done," said Mbora in an interview with NEXT.
She added: "I pray they succeed. It used to be plenty fun and we used to look forward to such events."
How far the Games have been publicised, and how much money was actually raised remains unknown as attempts to pry the figures from Osa Adun, chairman of DBN, marketers of the games, proved abortive. The facilities for the Games however, are amongst the best in the world and should get the best out of the competitors in all 15 sporting events.
These are track and field, badminton, basketball, chess, cricket, handball, hockey, judo, soccer, squash, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, and volleyball.
Fifteen events are, however, a far cry from the 24 sporting disciplines that make up the programme of the NCAA in America, and there is a need to, in the future, introduce more events especially those that have become a part and parcel of Nigerian sports and which have the potential to bring glory to the country at major international events.
An example of such a sport is wrestling - freestyle and Greco-Roman - which in the opinion of former Olympic champion and current technical adviser of the country's national team, Daniel Igali is a potential medal spinner at international events.
"Wrestling is one of the traditional events of the Olympics and even in the United States and Canada, it is one of the biggest attractions at their collegiate games," Igali, who also holds Canadian citizenship, having represented the North American country said.
"It is one of our traditional sports and it has also won countless honours for Nigeria, so they should look at ways to introduce it at future NUGA Games."
A major obstacle to implementing of such a plan is the dearth of training facilities for these sports within Nigerian universities.
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