The 24th Nigeria University Games
Association, NUGA, earlier scheduled to
hold in 2013 will now hold from
February 12 to 22 at the Obafemi
Awolowo University, OAU, Ile-Ife, Osun.
A NUGA council member, Cecilia Arinye,
disclosed this on Friday via telephone.
Ms. Arinye said that the Games, earlier
scheduled for October 12 to 22, 2013,
were postponed indefinitely due to the
six-month strike by the Academic Staff
Union of Universities, ASUU.
She said that the new date was to give
hope to the student athletes and to
reawaken the Games.
"It is good news that the impasse has
ended. The athletes who had undergone
preliminaries since June and July, will
now be able to exhibit their skills at the
competition. Some of them hope to use
the event as a launching pad to the
forthcoming Commonwealth Games, so,
staging the event in February before the
Commonwealth Games will be an
advantage," she said.
She noted that, in the past, many
student athletes had used the
competition to get to the bigger stage in
various sports, and that chances were
still available for the upcoming ones.
Ms. Arinye, who is also the NUGA Zone
F Co-ordinator, comprising the
universities in Lagos, Ogun and Oyo
States, said that necessary logistics had
been put in place to welcome
contingents to the Games.
According to her, the host university
was ready for the Games, having put in
place structures and sporting facilities
for the event.
She called on athletes to be law abiding
and to make the best of the
opportunities provided by the platform
to launch themselves into world
reckoning.
The last edition of the competition was
held at the University of Benin in 2010.
