West Africa School Sport Union Games to be held in Lagos

L-R: Yinka Lawuyi, Sec. Gen. WASSU; Ademola Adeniji-Adele, Commissioner for Youths, Sports & Social Development; Thomas Olaiya, President WASSU and Tunji Olugbodi, MD-CEO, Verdant Zeal.

The West Africa School Sport Union Games have been scheduled to hold in Lagos in September 2011.

The President of the Games and immediate past president of the Nigeria School Sports Federation, Adeleke Olaiya, disclosed this in Lagos at a press briefing that also had the Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Ademola Adeniji-Adele in attendance.

The commissioner said Lagos State aims to put up a befitting spectacle as host. “If the competition has to start tomorrow, we are ready,” said Adele.

He added that the state will not be building any new infrastructure as all that will be needed is already on ground,

“What we need to do is have a meeting to agree on the logistics. The Teslim Balogun Stadium is fully functional and the entire infrastructures that were put in place to host Nigeria 2009 are all fully functional.”

Lagos to host 16 countries

The West Africa School Sport Union is comprised of 15 countries in the West African region but 16 countries have indicated their participation in the forth-coming.

“Maritania wrote to us that they are interested in being part of the Games and we agreed to have them.” Olaiya said. The Games, will involve 12 sports events including: Football, Handball, Basketball, Volleyball, Athletics, Table Tennis, Tennis, Judo, Swimming, Gymnastics, Wrestling and Badminton.

Adeniji-Adele also added that the sports grounds of Campos Square and Agege will also be put at the organisers’ disposal.

The union was formed in 2004 on an interim basis and started real functions in 2009. This will be the first of its Games and it is expected that it will hold annually across the West African region.

A communiqué released, stated in part: “The objective of WASSU among others is to promote unity, peace, culture, art and a cultism-free environment in educational institutions while seeking to advance human capital development and youth empowerment among young students in the West-African sub region.”

Olympic medalist Falilat Ogunkoya, who is an ambassador for the body, added that “The only way we will stop recycling athletes is to build from the grassroots.

“I was discovered in primary school and went on to represent Nigeria for close to 20 years. That is the kind of plan that WASSU has. To generate more talents from the primary to the secondary, so that Nigeria and West Africa will once again become a powerhouse in sports.”

Other ambassadors for the body include Austin Okocha and Emmanuel Adebayor from Togo.

The competition is expected to kick off on September 11, 2011.