The stage is set for an enthralling rivalry as the MTN CHAMPS Uyo Grand Final takes place from May 6 to 9 at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Akwa Ibom State, with 2,187 athletes, including the 40 Most Valuable Performers (MVPs) selected from Benin and Lagos, set to battle for honours.
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A Press Conference was held in Uyo on Monday, May 5, to herald the competition, with several dignitaries in attendance.
They included the Commissioner for Sports, Akwa Ibom State, Paul Bassey; Commissioner for Education, Prof Ubong Essien Umoh; President, Nigeria School Sport Federation (NSSF), Mrs Olabisi Joseph; General Manager, Brand and Communication, MTN, Emamoke Ogoro, and Regional Manager South South, MTN, Callima Inino.
Others were Making of Champions’ Country Manager, Deji Ogeyingbo; Director, Consumer Solutions, Beacon Power Services, Idara Michael; several Senior Managers and General Managers of MTN and Permanent Secretaries and Directors from the Akwa Ibom State Ministries of Sports and Education respectively.
Giving her opening remarks, MTN’s Ogoro highlighted the brand’s vision for the initiative, which has become Nigeria’s biggest secondary school Athletics competition.
She said: “Thank you so much for coming on this journey to develop the future of Athletics for Nigeria. The dream of having Nigeria on the world stage is a strong vision that we all should join hands to accomplish.
Two seasons ago, precisely in 2023, the MTN CHAMPS dream was born. Over time, we’ve had over 15,000 athletes across 900 schools starting from the Cadet (U-14) level, to every other age group participating in this event.
“The most profound thing that matters to this brand is that we stand for the progress of Nigerians, and looking into grassroots development is a fulcrum of pivoting all our youngsters to pursue their dreams. And so, it gladdens my heart that when we go for these events, we’re beginning to see people breaking their personal records, and so a big congratulations to us for having accomplished this in such a short time.”
Giving his speech on behalf of MoC, Ogeyingbo reiterated the organisers’ dream for the competition:
“The goal of MTN CHAMPS is to go across all of the states. Every Nigerian child deserves this opportunity, and we try our possible best to ensure that we create a platform that gives them this opportunity.
Having come here to Uyo in Season 1, it was imperative that we came here again. Thank you very much for keeping this facility in its pristine shape and still giving our kids opportunity to run in a world class stadium”, he said.
Representing the Executive Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Elder Bassey expressed the state’s delight in hosting the Grand Final. He said:
“When MTN applied to see our governor, it was expressly granted because he believed in the cause that they were coming to see him for, which is the development of the youths, so I really want to thank MTN and MoC for what they are doing.
Let me also use this opportunity to say that this administration is also planning a state-of-the-art Sports Academy, because it’s not only enough to discover those talents; they must be nurtured, and you must give them the benefit of education, because whether you like it or not, after ten years, after twelve years, sports will leave you, but it is that education that will sustain you. We support this initiative wholeheartedly, and we’re happy that we are the ones hosting it.”
The NSSF President Mrs Joseph commended MTN and MoC for their role in transforming the lives of school boys and girls across the nation.
She said: “It’s been three years, three seasons, and yet it is continuous. Gradually, steadily, the MTN CHAMPS is transforming lives. It’s shaping the future of thousands of our school boys and girls.
Permit me to say a very big thank you to MTN Nigeria, a heartfelt gratitude for investing in the future. Some three years ago when the Making of Champions team came to the Nigerian School
Football Federation to partner on this very impactful initiative. It wasn’t so difficult because we saw a shared vision of identifying, nurturing and elevating the lives of these children.”
Beacon Power Services conveyed their continued support for the competition. Michael stated: “We are a leading energy solutions provider improving power reliability and power efficiency across Africa.
We’re super excited to partner with this amazing initiative of Making of Champions. We see a very clear line of sight between the amazing work MoC is doing and what we are doing in our organization, our core values, which is around fostering growth, development, and community engagement.
We have seen MoC take this amazing young talent from across Nigeria and then take them to the international stage, and we are most excited to partner with this initiative to support, promote, and empower these talents as they go to the global stage”.
5,807 event entries were received from 2,187 athletes across 136 secondary schools and 93 junior and senior teams, comprising 464 Cadets, 777 Youths, 426 Juniors, and 520 Seniors.
