The management of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, says the institution is set to successfully host the 2023 West African Universities Games (WAUG).
The institution’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), Abiodun Olanrewaju, said this in a statement on Thursday.
The 2023 WAUG is slated to begin on 16 December.
”It will involve sports contingents from universities in the West African sub-region and participants will compete for medals in sports such as tennis, table tennis, basketball and athletics, and many more,” he said.
Mr Olanrewaju added that the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, would be the special guest of honour during the opening and closing ceremonies of the games.
“The closing ceremony will come up on 22 December,” he added.
WAUG, also known as the ECOWAS Students Games, is a multi-sport event between student-athletes from West African universities.
The first edition of the competition was held in 1965 at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria’s premier university.
It has been held for four to six years since 1989.
OAU, then the University of Ife, had hosted the games only once. It hosted the sixth edition of the competition in 1975.
Among the six Nigerian universities that have ever hosted the games, OAU will be the first to hold it more than once as the 15th edition holds on its campus in December.
Nigerian universities that have hosted the games in the past are the University of Ibadan, which hosted the first edition in 1965; University of Lagos, fourth edition, 1971; University of Ife (now OAU), sixth edition, 1975; University of Benin, ninth edition, 1995; University of Ilorin, 13th edition, 2012; and University of Port Harcourt, the last and 14th edition, in 2018.
(NAN)
