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Abia Ministry of Sports and Youth Development, says the stage is set for the 2nd edition of the State Governor’s Secondary Schools Unity Games, ASGSSUG.
The competition which is an initiative of the Governor is aimed at discovering talents at the grassroots and urban centres who will further represent the State at the global stage in various sporting competitions.
Participants at the 3-day sporting event begining from July 29th to August 1st 2025, will be drawn from the 17 Local Government Areas of the State while adequate arrangements have been made by both the State and LG authorities for accomodation and feeding.
Addressing newsmen on Thursday at the Umuahia Township Stadium on the preparedness of the State to hold this event for Secondary School Students, Commissioner for Sports and Youth Development, Mr. Nwobilor Ananaba, said this is in fulfillment of the Governor Alex Otti led administration to discover talents hidden in the hinterlands.
Ananaba recalled that on assumption of office, the State Government introduced two hours physical education in primary and secondary schools to highlight the importance of sports development.
According to him, the administration also initiated a statewide sporting event at the local government areas to facilitate the discovery of talents, saying the schools that competed among themselves concluded the finals at the State level just as talents were discovered during the finals.
He added that the Ministry through the sporting event, also discovered young athletes and began the process of nurturing and developing them to become stars to represent Abia at national and international levels.
Ananaba said during the 1st edition, a Hungarian who did a football talent hunt identified six talents, who were later invited to Hungary for their talent to be sharpened, informing that a certain football player was also transferred to the United States of America.
According to him, “He is now playing on a scholarship for a university in the U.S. I can also confirm that Barcelona FC, second-tier football club in La Liga, has invited one of our players for trials, and hopefully they will sign him. They also invited one of our coaches to train as their scout in Barcelona.
He told newsmen that the 1st edition of the competition last April, recorded tremendous success as a lot of young athletes were discovered who also went ahead to win laurels for Abia State at the just concluded National Sports Festival in Ogun State.
Ananaba, who expressed optimism that the second edition of the event will also lead to the discovery of more athletics that will represent the State in future events, said, “That is why I have invited you, so that we can let you know, to let the world know that we are here again this year to conduct the second edition of this competition and to continue to discover athletes, nurture them, because we have a good structure in place to identify, nurture and make them fantastic athletes.
He reaffirmed the readiness of the Ministry, emphasising that all the heads of the committees are working round the clock to ensure there is a hitch-free competition while appreciating the Governor of Abia State for his investment towards sports development.
Contributing, the State Director of Sports, Mr. Obioma George, said as at last year, their estimation of the number of participants from each LGA is around 1,000.
He said so far, the Ministry’s portal shows that 780 participants from the Local Government have so far registered, assuring that by next week Monday, the Ministry will ascertain the exact number that will take part from the 17 local government areas of the State.
George informed that some of the talents discovered during the 1st edition were part of the contingent that represented the State at the National Sports Festival.
“And on the other issue that has to do with our development and achievement in sports so far, let me also tell you that these students in Abia State, the ones we have already identified were part of the people that represented the State during the National Sports Festival in Ogun State.”
“You know, they just concluded National Sports Festival. The National Sports Commission introduced what they call IJA, Identified Junior Athletes.
“These Identified Junior Athletes participated as a state. They did not participate for their various states. They participated for the national.
“And very many of these Abia Under-15 that we discovered in Secondary School games last year represented Nigeria at that level. And as I speak, some of them are on their way to Algeria for these African Secondary School Games. I know that Chinenye Okafor, Table Tennis, who is the Junior Champion in Nigeria for table tennis, is in that team. So this is one of the advantages we are having in the secondary school games. I’m more than confident,” he concluded.
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