GATIG boss tasks Ogun’s higher institutions’ heads on sports facilities for students

All of Ogun State’s higher education administrators have been tasked by Kehinde Olalekan Adeyemi, chairman of the Gateway Tertiary Institutions Games (GATIG) Council, with providing sporting facilities for the multitudes of students enrolled in our institutions around the state.

Speaking from his Ago-Iwoye office, Adeyemi, who also serves as the Director of Sports at Olabisi Onabanjo University, bemoaned the inadequate state and lack of sports facilities in the majority of Ogun State’s institutions of higher learning, depriving students of the chance to participate actively in sports, which could eventually lead to sports as a career path after graduating from their various campuses in addition to their academic pursuits.

People like Segun Odegbami, Felix Owolabi, Adokie Amesimaka, Seyi Olofinjana, and others combined academics and sports while they were in the university, which provided them with dual-career pathways.

Segun Odegbami graduated as an engineer but took up a career in sports, especially football.

It’s high time our heads of institutions provided basic sport facilities on our campuses to encourage students’ participation in regular sporting activities for their physical, mental and psychological fitness.

Speaking further to buttress his point on the importance of adequate provision of sports facilities on our campuses, Adeyemi explained that at the last Paris Olympics in 2024, the U.S.A. presented about 594 athletes for the games, out of which 400 were student-athletes from various American colleges and universities.

A good example among the USA student-athletes at the Olympics was a 16-year-old Emily Aumus a 100-level civil engineering student from the University of South California who participated in water polo and won a medal for America at the games.

As we speak, let me tell you that Ogun State had about 50 tertiary institutions, including 20 universities, 13 polytechnics, 8 monotechnics, and 9 colleges of education. With this number, you can then imagine the number of student-athletes that can be produced for our state and even the nation at large if we have sports facilities and enabling environments on our campuses across the state.

In his final remarks, the GATIG Council Chairman appreciated the Ogun State government through the Ministry of Sports Development for resuscitating the Gateway Tertiary Institutions Games last year as we look forward to another edition of the games in August 2025 to be hosted in Abeokuta.