Cricket To Be Top 3 Sport In Nigeria – NCF

President of the Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF), Uyi Akpata, said he is optimistic the game of cricket will be one of the top three recognised sports in Nigeria.

Speaking with the International Cricket Council (ICC), following Nigeria’s outing at the U-19 Women’s T20 World Cup, Akpata noted that a well-organised structure helped the federation achieve the feat.

• Read more: U-19 Women’s Cricket: Nigeria Reaches World Cup Super 6 Stage
• Read more: U-19 Cricket: Nigeria Makes History at T20 World Cup

Nigeria’s U-19 team, the Junior Female Yellow Greens, made a debut at the just concluded World Cup in Malaysia, beating two top cricket-playing nations, New Zealand and Ireland before exiting at the Super Six stage of the tournament.

“I am just pleased with the girls’ performance. When you invest a lot and see the rewards coming through, even faster than expected, you get some sort of fulfilment,” Akpata said.“Our development plan was showing that we should be in the World Cup by 2028.”

“But these girls just keep redefining the standards. When the present NCF board came in, we set up about five strategic imperatives. This involves all round development which includes facilities, strategic partnership with government, sponsors and key stakeholders.”

“Good governance and financial integrity are also part of our strategic plan; we have reached our target of 250,000 kids playing cricket every year with half of them female doing inter-schools cricket tournament, national under 17 tournaments, regional leagues and more for developmental cricket.”

“Also, we introduced contracts to national team players as well as grant scholarships to players in school. Now, we can host an ICC tournament.”

“This was not possible five years ago, but now we have about seven grounds across the country to host a successful ICC event and is aimed at seeing that cricket becomes one of the three recognised sports in Nigeria,” Akpata concluded.

The NCF boss also noted that the team’s performance in the tournament initiated lots of interest by Nigerian fans, adding that the development would enhance the cricket brand.