NUGA 2025: Is Athlete Welfare Still A Priority?

By Oluwademilade Ogunleye

On the 5th of November 2025, the 27th edition of the National University Games (NUGA) kicked off in Jos. The event which was earlier scheduled for 2024 had to be postponed by a year because of facility concerns by host, University of Jos. The competition, which brings together athletes across Nigerian Universities together bi-annually, held between the 6th and 15th of November. For this year’s edition, over 80 institutions converged at the University of Jos for the biggest University tournament in Nigeria, yet many teams arrived under-resourced. The University of Ilorin, for example, withdrew despite having won a N5 million prize just weeks earlier, raising serious questions about the management of funds meant for student-athletes. According to the student-athletes, the Management had failed to provide adequate funding and transportation for them and so they had to pull out just 72 hours to the competition. This was despite the school securing qualification in Track and field, Squash, Chess, cricket, badminton, table Tennis amongst others. They were also plagued with a very low Pre-NUGA allowance from the school management. While other schools received as high as 50k+, the University of Ilorin received just 15,000 naira, a sum that was not enough to cover the athletes’ expenses during the qualifying stage.

Also, Obafemi Awolowo University faced similar issues. Though they later participated in the competition, there were threats from the athletes that they would pull out, citing accreditation issues. Defending champions, UNIPORT, were also missing from the competition due to the same administrative issues.

It was against this challenging backdrop that the University of Ibadan sent its athletes, who delivered strong performances. Though the tournament was mauled by administrative failures and chronic underfunding across various schools, the University of Ibadan athletes had a different story to tell.

NUGA 2025: The Tales of UI Athletes

The University of Ibadan contingents arrived Jos on Thursday, November 6, 2025 at exactly 9:25am after travelling over 900km and spending 20 hours on the road. The UI athletes, despite long hours on the road, arrived with so much enthusiasm and high hopes for an enjoyable tournament. These 97 athletes, with the second batch to arrive the next day, looked forward to a tournament with better welfare than the last edition in Lagos, which was marred by several complaints from participants. However, what greeted the athletes was a sorry sight. First, the athletes were stranded without a place to lay their heads after 6 hours of arrival.

When these athletes were eventually given a place to stay, the conditions of the rooms were nothing to write home about. Littered with bunks, the room had dirty floors and electricity was as good as absent. It took several complaints from the athletes, who directed their complaints through the UI Director of Sport council, Mr. Eyiomo, for the conditions of the accommodation to be changed.

The accommodation initially provided for the UI contingents

This highlights the poor administration from the organizers and hosts of the tournament. Ironically, the tournament had to be postponed by a year because of administrative and facility concerns. Now, a year later, one wonders why the problem still lingers.

However, in spite of the poor administration from the organizers of the NUGA tournament, it would seem that the UI management learnt her lessons from the 2022 outing and doubled up on its funding this time. First, the athletes got their Pre-NUGA allowance, a fund usually given to cover the expenses of the NUGA qualifying games, week before the competition started. This allowance was given in the sum of N35000 and a 100% got their money. Asides this allowance, the athletes also got another sum of N98000 during the games to cover their feeding and other logistical expenses. According to Henry, a member of the UI Chess team who won silver medal in the NUGA games, the school provided all these funds early. “When it comes to welfare, I will say the UI management really tried. We received our Pre-NUGA allowance and NUGA allowances from the UI Bursary early enough and we were even given beverages [Milk, Milo etc] alongside.”It would seem like the story of these UI athletes was a good one, compared to what was obtained in other schools. In interactions with other athletes, it was discovered that some were paid lower Pre-NUGA allowances and were not even paid for their expenses at NUGA as at the time the competition was almost over, Enugu State University (ESUT), for instance, paid her athletes just N20,000 for their Pre-NUGA allowance and there was no hope in sight for a balance as the competition drew close.

Asides the funds, the UI Management also provided two large coaster buses for the trip to Jos for both batches and the UI medical team from Jaja Medical center were also on ground to cover medical emergencies. The school had also provided materials for each sport including new boots and balls for the football team and Chess Boards for the Chess team to make their preparations for the tournament easier.

However, on the part of their academics, these student-athletes were not fully catered for. Asides the exemption letter sent to the Deans of Faculties and Heads of Department from the school management, no special provisions were made for these athletes to retake missed classes. This was quite unfair to them as they had to resume back to exams just a week after their return from Jos. As demanding as being an athlete can be, these students had to balance academic pressure all on their own which put them at a disadvantage with their peers.

In spite of all of the concerns, the UI athletes came out top, finishing 6th on the log with 9 Gold medals, 13 Silver and 14 bronze medals across 11 sports including Football, Squash, Tennis, Table Tennis, Swimming, Badminton, Chess, Scrabble amongst others.

It should be worthy of note that the male football team was the only team sports that UI presented in the NUGA games despite qualifying for football in the male category, handball and volleyball. According to the Student Union Secretary, this was a decision taken by the school management due to funding and logistic issues. “The UI Sport council didn’t want to be caught off-guard. Look at some other universities having issues now, because some athletes qualified, but they’re not going to participate because of financial constraints on people they will sponsor. In fact, it was agreed that if football male didn’t qualify, there would be a possibility of taking a separate team sports to NUGA.” According to the Sport Secretary, the captains of these teams had been informed beforehand before this decision was taken. Now, this raises some concerns. Would it be actually fair on these athletes who have looked forward to participating in these NUGA games, to get disqualified due to financial issues on the part of the management, just few days to the tournament and after playing the qualifying games already?

The NUGA 2025 games might have come and gone, but the remnants still remain. It should always be remembered that these athletes are first students, and balancing both is already tough in itself. A school sending representatives to NUGA competitions should not be treating her athletes like second-class citizens, because in the long run, these individuals are putting not only their grades, but also their lives at risk in the pursuit of national glory.

Also, the UI athletes were not given their medals, another administrative malady from the organizers. Their excuse? The medals had not been imported yet from China. As at the time of writing this report, the medals had not been sent to the UI athletes yet.

Way Forward

For UI, the story was a bitter one in the last edition in 2022. The athletes were owed balances from both the qualifying games and the NUGA games and this reflected in their overall performance as they finished 16th on the log. This year, it was a better treatment, and again, it reflected in their performance. However, more can still be done.

Facilities, especially for indoor games, should be provided for these athletes. The Chess team, for example, do not have a facility for training and have to share one with the table tennis team, which could be very distracting for any Chess Player. Also, the training equipments should come earlier to enhance proper training for these athletes. This year, most of the balls, kits and boots, came just a week before the tournament which is not supposed to be so. In addition, volunteers like the media team should be added to the traveling team and given adequate support. Afterall, if our sport persons are not given PR, how else will they be on the global map?

Finally, it is said that preparation meets performance. NUGA is held bi-annually, that is enough time for a school management to prepare for any number of athletes they are taking to represent the school at these competitions. It should not be heard that teams are disqualified due to funding issues, when preparations could have been made ahead.