One week after the conclusion of the 2026 edition of the Nigeria Oil and Gas Industry Games (NOGIG) ended in Abuja, athletes and officials are still counting the gains.

Braving all odds, Princess Akata, who represented the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI), Effurun, Delta State, defeated Nene of Aradel in straight sets 6/2, 6/3 to win gold in tennis, ladies singles match.  That was just one of the three gold medals PTI won to emerge as champions of the tennis event at NOGIG 2026. PTI’s representatives won the team event and women’s doubles.

“This has been our best outing since our participation in NOGIG,” Simon Nweke, a member of PTI’s contingent and chairman of the Publicity sub committee for NOGIG 2026, said.

“We won two gold medals in the last edition, and in 2020, we had just one gold medal. Before then, we had none.

“Today, we have three gold medals, one silver and four bronze. You can see that we are moving up there soon. We dedicate it to our commitment and determination of all the athletes and the unwavering support from management,” Nweke stated.

Team PTI’s performance underlines the mark made by institution that were traditionally ranked as underdogs.

The first vice chairman of NOGIG 2026, Chido Okoli, observed that there were no whipping boys at NOGIG 2026, as everybody wanted a medal.

“I think this has been the biggest games we have ever had. We had the most number of companies, most number of events, and you can see the enthusiasm in the stadium. Another thing about this 2026 edition is, every company won something.”

Chairman of the LOC, Dr Sulaiman Sulaiman said: “There was high competition this year because things were done differently. Everybody try to pack all the medals. There were no underdogs this year.”

Dr Sulaiman was part of spectators that watched the swimming event, where his company NNPC won the women’s medley relay.

The chairman of the technical committee, Tayo Akande, was carried away by the excellent performances and level of competitiveness exhibited by table tennis players at the event.

He said: “I think some of these players can represent Nigeria at the Olympics.” That was the standard the games attained as every event extracted the best from the competing athletes.

Of particular interest is the performance of the contingent from Liquefied Natural Gas Company of Nigeria,
(NLNG), which emerged overall champions with 20 gold, 16 silver and 16 bronze medals.

With their strong showing in almost all the events, especially swimming where they  carted away five gold, two silver and five bronze medals from swimming alone.

Perennial champions, NNPCL, were upstaged as they, for once, took the runners up trophy with NNPC LTD 14 gold, 15 silver and 20 bronze medals.

Another middle table finisher in previous editions, NCDMB, put up their best showing in NOGIG ever, catapulting themselves to the third place with five gold, eight silver and five bronze medals. In fourth position is TotalEnergies, which won five gold, and 10 bronze medals.

Debutantes, Renaissance, were the surprise in the pack, finishing with four gold, four silver and four bronze medals to finish in 5th position. Another debutante, ND Western, claimed gold in the men’s 100 metres dash.

In Volleyball men’s doubles event, NNPC defeated hard-fighting NUPRC 25/16, 25/18, 25/21 to pick the gold, while in table tennis men’s doubles, NNPC defeated NLNG 11/7, 11/7, 11/4.

In the women’s doubles, Renaissance came from behind to defeat NLNG 10/12, 8/11,11/8,11/6, 12/10 to clinch gold. In the mixed doubles, Renaissance aso defeated NLNG 3-1 of 10/12, 11/8, 11/5, 11/9.

There were also exceptional performances in Chess, Scrabble, Basketball, 8-Ball and others.

However, one worrisome observation was the demographic profile of most of the athletes, who have attended more than four editions of NOGIG.

The First Vice Chairman of NOGIG 2026, Chido Okoli said: “You can see that the average age of the companies that are excelling in terms of medal count is on the lower side. The other companies have to go back and see how they can change the narrative”.