NSITF promises to support professional golf development

Sponsors of the maiden Ikoyi Club Professional Development Competition, the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) has promised continuous support to the growth of the game.

The Ikoyi Club Professional Development Competition will hold tomorrow with some of the best players in the sport vying for various prizes.

Speaking on the competition,  Managing Director of the national scheme, Oluwaseun Mayomi, said that, unlike the general perception, professional golfers fall squarely among the brackets that the NSITF is campaigning to be under the scheme’s umbrella.

He said: “While we are very determined to live through the mandate that established the fund; the Employee Compensation Act, 2010 ACT 73 of 1993, we are still working at bringing more diligent citizens under the cover.”

He said that discussions to engage more professional sportsmen through their respective bodies and shoulder their compensation regimen through the NSITF is an ongoing experiment in Nigeria, given the unique conditions under which different athletes operate.

“Ikoyi Club represents the bastion of sports administration in Nigeria and engages athletes of different classes and shapes. This maiden engagement with professional golf is part of our ongoing engagement with this class of Nigerian workers.

“Ikoyi Club engages some of the best professional golfers in the country and arguably has the biggest golf-playing footfall on the continent.

“It is the most populated sports club on the continent and I think that is understated. So, it practically is the biggest employer of most professional sportsmen anywhere.”

Therefore, there is no better place for NSITF to generate data for decision-making than here,” he stated.

The pilot edition of the event is a one-day competition that will feature some of the top professionals in the country, including Francis Epe and Sunday Olapade, who have been Nigeria’s number-one players at different times.

Also participating in the event are Ikemefune Vincent, Paul Patrick, Michael Balogun, and Matthew Lawrence, among others.

The event is an 18-hole strokeplay tournament for the professionals with some invited club members playing alongside.