We’ll be ready to host best NUGA games come 2022 — UNILAG’s VC

Olorunnimbe Formally Introduced As Project Lead At LOC Meeting
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of The Temple Company, Mr. Idris Olorunnimbe, has officially been presented to the Local Organising Committee (LOC) as the Project Lead by the Vice Chancellor of University of Lagos (UNILAG), Prof. Oluwatoyin T. Ogundipe, at the stakeholders meeting for the hosting of the Nigerian University Games Association (NUGA) scheduled for March next year.

Olorunnimbe was recently appointed the Project Lead for the 2022 NUGA Games by the UNILAG authorities. Part of his duty is to support the university in galvanising the technical and financial help needed for the success of the Games in addition to backup in areas of equipment and state-of-the-art facilities for the NUGA Games.

Speaking on the occasion, Prof. Ogundipe said the stakeholders’ meeting was the formal introduction of Olorunnimbe as the Project Lead for the 2022 NUGA Games.

“What we have just finished doing is having the LOC meeting for the NUGA Games coming up in March 2022, so that we have the best NUGA Games ever in the country. We want to decentralised everything so that the NUGA Games event will not only be felt within Akoka, but in Lagos State because we are expecting nothing less than 10,000 students across the country.

“Currently, we have over 200 universities in Nigeria and I am sure because UNILAG is hosting, many of the universities in the country will want to attend. This competition will have social, economic definitely political impact in the society.

2022 is a unique year for UNILAG because we are going to be hosting the NUGA Games. We are going to have our convocation; we are going to have our 60th anniversary, and so, it is going to be a big one for the university,” he said.

Enumerating what needed to be done to make the hosting of 2022 NUGA Games a huge success, Olorunnimbe said that money would play a pivotal role above people’s expertise and time.

“I stand as a bridge between the young and the old. I understand both languages and to be able to find a balance. This is what we do because we are in the business of sports, entertainment and culture. These three things must converge to create an experience. We are also well exposed and we have seen how it is done in places where it works and we are willing to bring in those things that work in those places so that we can get the kind of results we desire.

“The first thing the Games need to succeed beyond the contribution of peoples’ expertise, peoples’ time is money. I think the funding matrix has to be a combination of what the school, government can afford whether at the local government, state and national level.

“Sponsorship can be attracted to the NUGA Games because this is where you have the highest number of young Nigerians. It is a market that is very fertile for brands to come in.

“The last, which is not the least and might also be the most important one is the influence of the alumni. The governor of Lagos State is alumnus of the university so also the governor of Akwa Ibom I was told. The school has paid her dues and I think that the alumni will come together to pay back by contributing their quotas to the success of the Games. We are definitely going to call on them,” he said.