JAMB Gives Football A Fresh Admission Into Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria

To think of Jamb is to think of serious study...burning mid-night candles preparing for exam and not even thinking of going out to play football.

 In case you don't know, JAMB means Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, the body in charge of setting and regulating enterance examination into tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

To think that Jamb of all people, will be the one to sponsor a football tournament is unimaginable. But the director of JAMB in his explanation said, the tournament is a quest to provide meaningful recreation and alternative career path at the tertiary institutions... I think, that's heart warming.

Over the years, Sports had died naturally in our tertiary institutions. Even during inter-departmental games, you dare not ask a lecturer to fix his classes outside recreation hours. What you will hear is the stern voice of the lecturer: "Youngman you better choose football or take your education seriously!"

In fact, any talented footballer that ever got admission into any of the tertiary institutions in Nigeria are most likely going to loose form due to lack of practice... and his talent just fade away like that.

This is the reason we try to help talented footballer gain Athletic Scholarship admission in US or Canada where colleigate and  University sports are taking seriously.

But now Jamb has taken the initiative... The Kwara State Commissioner for Sports and Youth Development, Bolakale Nuhu said the examination body has instituted N25 million football competition for terriary institutions in Nigeria; and the maiden edition would hold in Ilorin in July 2017.

Speaking during a media briefing in Ilorin, Nuhu stated that NUGA, NIPOGA, College of Education Games and Innovative Entrepreneur Institution teams would compete in the tournament.

This is giving football a fresh admission into tertiary institutions in the country...and we hope the N25 million price tag for winner of the tournament will drive the institutions into reviving football in their Campuses. I think this is good news for all the talented footballers in our various Universities, Polytechnics and College of education.