The leadership of the National Sports Commission (NSC) has signed the Games Hosting Agreement for the 2027 African School Games with the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA).
The signing ceremony, which took place in Abuja on Wednesday, marked a significant step in Nigeria’s quest to stage a successful second edition of the African School Games, tagged “Abuja 2027.”
Chairman of the NSC, Mallam Shehu Dikko, said hosting the African School Games is a huge milestone for Nigeria and aligns with the goal of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, to reset Nigerian sports. He reassured ANOCA that the second edition of the African School Games would set a new standard for future editions.
“Developing Nigerian sports from the grassroots level is one of our mandates, and at that grassroots level, the foundation should be school sports, which is why we are having strong collaborations with the Federal Ministry of Education.
“To emphasize how aggressive we are with our grassroots drive, the DG and I created the Invited Junior Athletes (IJA) initiative for the National Sports Festival as the 38th state, and that programme has been a huge success.
“We also have a mandate to revamp our sporting infrastructure around the country, and hosting these Games clearly aligns with this. Therefore, we are very excited to host the rest of Africa next year, and I can assure ANOCA that, with their collaboration, Nigeria will deliver a world-class Games, as we have done in the past with international events like COJA and the U-18 and U-20 CAA Athletics Championships held last year.”
Director General of the NSC, Hon. Bukola Olopade, emphasized that hosting the African School Games speaks to the core of the Commission’s grassroots mandate and reassured everyone that Nigeria will host a very successful edition of the Games that Africa and ANOCA will be proud of.
“I am glad that ANOCA is very satisfied with the quality of the team we have put in place to organise these Games, starting from the Chairman of the Local Organising Committee, Lekan Abari, to all the committee members. This goes to show the level of commitment Nigeria is putting into the Games.”
The President of ANOCA, Mustapha Berraf, in his remarks, thanked the Nigerian Government and the leadership of the National Sports Commission (NSC) for their commitment to hosting the Games and giving the children of Africa hope for a brighter future.
“This is a great moment for sports in Africa and an even greater moment for our children. The signing of the Games Hosting Agreement further confirms that the Games will be held here in Abuja, and I wish Nigeria the very best.”
One of the highlights of the agreement-signing ceremony was the presentation of an Honorary Award of Excellence to the Chairman of the NSC, Mallam Shehu Dikko, by ANOCA for his outstanding leadership and contributions to sports development in Nigeria and Africa as a whole.
ANOCA also presented a Plaque of Appreciation to the Director General of the NSC, Hon. Bukola Olopade, for his passionate administrative leadership in sports.
The epoch-making signing ceremony was attended by other top ANOCA officials, including 1st Vice President João Da Costa; Secretary General Ahmed Hashim; ANOCA Treasurer and President of the Nigeria Olympic Committee, Engr. Habu Gumel; and NOC Secretary General, Babatunde Popoola.
Other dignitaries in attendance included the Senior Special Assistant on Grassroots Sports to the President, Anthony Adeboye; the Director General of the National Institute for Sports (NIS), Comrade Philip Shaibu; the Algerian Ambassador to Nigeria, Hocine Mezoued; and the Chairman of the Abuja 2027 Local Organising Committee, Lekan Abari, who also made a brief presentation of the Games logo and mascot to the delight of the ANOCA delegation.
