By Oluwademilade Ogunleye
Credit: UI Sports Twitter Page
The 27th edition of the Nigerian University Games Association (NUGA) officially kicked off on Thursday, November 6, 2025, at the University of Jos, drawing student-athletes from across the country in what promises to be a thrilling week of university sports competition.
The UI Athletes, with the Vice Chancellor and the school management team, a day before departure
As usual, the University of Ibadan would be participating in this year’s event, fielding 97 athletes who will be competing across 11 sports, including Football, Athletics, Badminton, Chess, Judo, Scrabble, Squash, Swimming, Table Tennis, Tennis, and Taekwondo.
The first batch of UI representatives departed campus at 1:08 p.m. on Wednesday, November 5, and arrived safely in Jos at 9:25 a.m. on Thursday, November 6, after an 18-hour journey covering over 900 km. Despite the long hours on the road, the athletes arrived with visible enthusiasm and high hopes of making the podium in several categories. The second batch of 60 persons is expected to depart for Jos on Friday morning. In total, UI’s travelling delegation includes 19 officials, among them the Chairman of the Sports Council, the Matron, coaches, and technical staff. Also accompanying the team are six volunteers from the UI Students’ Union Sports Committee, selected to support media and logistics.
Thursday has been dedicated to team arrivals, with press conferences, technical meetings, draws, and other formalities expected to run concurrently. The male football team, the Pioneers, are expected to kick off their first match on Saturday.
Speaking on the team’s readiness, the UI Students’ Union Sports Secretary, Victor Kolawole, noted that all participating athletes had undergone intensive training in the weeks following the pre-NUGA qualifiers.
“Preparation definitely intensified across all sports. Once selections were finalised after the Pre-NUGA Games, special training sessions began. At times, teams trained twice daily to stay in top shape.”
On why UI registered only one team sport this year, the Sports Secretary clarified that this was a decision of the UI Sports Council, based on realistic financial and administrative constraints.
“This wasn’t a spontaneous decision. Even before the Pre-NUGA Games, the Sports Council met with all captains and coaches to explain the realities. It’s not just about sponsorship. To represent UI externally, approval from the Registrar is needed. The Council didn’t want to overreach or get caught unprepared.”
“Look at other schools — some qualified but won’t be attending due to funding issues. LAUTECH, for example, is only sponsoring five athletes. So yes, it was a well-informed and communicated decision.”
On logistics and funding, the Sports Secretary revealed that it was a really challenging hurdle to scale through.
“There were quite a lot of challenges. I included several items in my office budget to support athlete welfare during training, but unfortunately, the budget hasn’t been approved to date. Sports isn’t always smooth, but it’s passion and commitment that keep us going.”
This year’s NUGA Games is expected to feature no fewer than 80 universities from across Nigeria. The University of Lagos (UNILAG) hosted the last edition in 2022, with the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) emerging as the overall champions.
The University of Ibadan hosted the very first edition of the NUGA games in 1966, following the success of the West African University Games (WAUG) in 1965. Since then, the university has made its mark by winning the 1st edition in 1966, the 6th edition in 1976, the 11th edition in 1986, and the 19th edition in 2002.
In an interesting development at press time, however, the UI athletes are yet to be given a place for accommodation by the organisers of the competition, 6 hours after their arrival. This was according to a post made by the official UI Sports Page on X.
With history on their side and determination in their stride, the UI Pioneers are looking to make a bold statement in Jos once again.
