21st February, 2012
The 17th Nigeria Colleges of Education Games, NICEGA, has been scheduled to hold in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, from 11 March, 2012.
The president of the NICEGA Association, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, said yesterday in Abuja that all is set for the biennial games which was earlier postponed due to the nationwide strike caused by the fuel subsidy protest. A total of 70 colleges of education across the country will feature at the games.
Sanusi who is also the Deputy Secretary General of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) disclosed yesterday that the host institution, the Federal College of Education, Omoku, Rivers State, has put in place ultra-modern sports facilities which would definitely aid the performance of the participating athletes from various institutions.
He stressed that the Games have the potentials of helping Nigeria groom hidden talents in the grassroots as competitions will be held in sports, which are very popular in the country.
Some of the events to be competed for include: Football, Athletics, Table Tennis, Tennis, Badminton, Handball, Volleyball and Hockey among others.
The NICEGA president noted that all the events will be competed for by male and female athletes whose winners will be given medals and trophies.
He recalled that some top athletes have been discovered from the Games over the years and this year’s edition at the FCE Omoku will not be different in terms of identification and grooming of talents.
“Some of the prominent national athletes discovered at the Games include; Chinyere Onuoha who later captained the national women’s volleyball team for more than seven years, Genevieve Nnaji who today is a national marathon champion in Nigeria. While the men’s hockey competition has produced more national team players.”
This year’s event would end on March 21 with a grand closing ceremony, while the FCE Kano are the defending champions with FCE Zaria emerging first runners-up at the last edition of the Games.
The 2013 edition of the NICEGA Games will be hosted by the College of Education, Minna, Niger State.