Over 600 athletes would be participating in the Ikeja Games organised by the ranking member and Chairman Finance Committee of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. James Abiodun Faleke in partnership with the National Institute for Sports (NIS).
The games opened on Monday, with accreditation of participants who will be participating in 10 different sports among them football, basketball, Table Tennis, Chess, Scrabble and Snooker.
Other games that would be competed are Draft, Ayo Olopon, Ludo and Cards.
Unveiling the maiden edition of the games, the Chairman of the Main Organising Committee of the Ikeja Games 2023, Barr Bayo Ayo said in order to ensure the delivery of a well-organized sports competition, the game’s partner, the NIS would be working with the MOC and the Local Organising Committee (LOC), to achieve the milestone.
Ayo said apart from the presentations of trophies, certificates and medals to the winning teams and individual games, cash prizes shall be presented to the winners and for the first time, all 600 participants shall be presented with cash stipends as participating fees to boost their morale.
He said the ideal has been on the board for over two years and efforts are on to establish a Trust Fund for the games, adding that the focus of the games is to produce sportsmen and women who would grow to become global champions.
He said while the constituency office would be used for the individual games, the two team games would be communicated to all participants from the 10 wards in the Ojodu Federal Constituency.
Ayo said the winner of the Football competition would go home with the trophy and N500,000, the first runner-up would go home with N300,000, the second runner-up, N200,000, while the fourth place would go home with N150,000, even as participating teams will go home with N50,000 each.
The winner of the individual games will go home with N100, 000, while everyone who registered for the games would go home with stipends.
The Technical Director of the Games, Tayo Aderinola noted that athletes were drawn from the 10 wards recognised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) within the Ikeja Federal Constituency and the football tournament will be contested by teams representing the respective wards.
The Vice Chairman of Ojodu LCDA Hon Bunmi Oluyadi applauded Rt. Hon Faleke for the initiative of the game. He said the game is an opportunity to build the youths in more productive endeavours as it offers an opportunity for youths with God-given talents to horne them for a better rewarding future.
