K.I.O Consult Abuja Inter-Schools Athletics Championship holds June 4

The inaugural Abuja Inter-Secondary Schools Athletics Championship (AISSAC) will hold at MKO Abiola National Stadium, Abuja, on June 4, the organisers have said.

The event, a boys and girls athletic championship, which will feature 14 secondary schools in Abuja, is open for student athletes, who must not be older than 18 years.

The managing partner of KIO Consult, Kesiena Oghoghorie, who is facilitating the championship, said AISSAC is designed to be the breeding ground for Nigerian athletes, along the line of Jamaica’s Inter-Secondary Schools Boys and Girls Championship that produced the likes of Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake, among others.

Oghoghorie, a former captain of University of Kent Athletics team, said the championship, which will be organised in conjunction with the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), will equip the youths with life challenges and develop their personal, interpersonal skills and talents.

The championship will be organised according to World Athletics standards, adding that starting blocks would be provided for student athletes to start getting them acquainted with what is obtainable at the global athletics level. 

The events on the schedule include, 100m, 200m, 400m, 4 x 100m Relay, 4 x 400m Relay, 4 x 400m (Mixed Relay), Long Jump and Javelin.

Oghoghorie said he was motivated to address the huge decline in school athletics competition in Nigeria, which has adversely affected the country’s performance at the global level.

He added that AISSAC would rekindle athletics interest in the country, as well as keep the youths engaged with a view to deterring them from engaging in social vices.

“School sports are the bedrock of any sports development programme in any nation. Nigeria, during its glory days of athletics, had a very robust and vibrant school athletics system. There was, for example, the Empire Day competition in the colonial era, the Grier Cup Competition in the Western Provinces in 1933, the Fisher Shield in the East and the Hussey Shield athletics competition between teams representing the schools in the North and South of Nigeria, among others,” Oghoghorie noted.

He said the numerous school athletics competitions at the time contributed to Nigeria’s success at global athletics level, as most of the student athletes at the school competitions eventually went on