UNIVERSITY OF LAGOS, [UNILAG] SET TO HOST 136 UNIVERSITIES FOR NUGA GAMES AS JAMB TO SCREEN PARTICIPATING STUDENTS

All is set by the University of Lagos (UNILAG) to host the 26th edition of the Nigerian Universities Games Association( NUGA) Games coming up between March 16th and 26th, 2022.

About 136 public and private universities nationwide with no fewer than 10,000 students are expected to participate in 17 events that include football, boxing, swimming, karate, volley, basket and handball, and so forth.

The Vice-Chancellor of UNILAG, Prof Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, gave this impression at a media briefing to show the preparedness of the university to host a hitch-free event which was originally billed for last year but postponed due to COVID-19 general lockdown.

He said the university bided to host the event with the University of Jos and defeated its rival by 76 against 66 points and consequently paid N6 million obligatory fee to NUGA Council.

He said though some sports facilities are still undergoing a massive renovation and some reconstruction to meet international standards, the Joint Admission and Matriculations Board(JAMB) has been partnered to screen all the participating students to ensure they are bonafide students and not machinery.

He said the games had been tagged ” A City Nuga” as some of the games would be taken to outside UNILAG to create awareness about the unity sports brings to the country.

Going down memory lane, Prof Ogundipe said UNILAG had hosted the event thrice, first in 1968, second in 1978 and third 10 years after with the university came first in that of 1988 and also in 1998.

“So, we are hosting this coming one with determination to come first again,” he added.

He, however, asked individuals, philanthropists, captains of industries, corporate organisations, and various state governments to join hands with the university by supporting financially and in kind to make the event a huge success.