Date: 2017-04-02

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has agreed to sponsor a football competition among all the tertiary institutions in Nigeria, tagged JAMB/Tertiary Institutions Football Championship.

The first edition, tagged 'Kwara 2017' will hold in Ilorin, Kwara state in August, and the competition, according to JAMB, will continue annually.

The approval followed a request tabled before JAMB by the Kwara State Ministry of Sports and Youth Development, to sponsor a football competition among all tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

In a letter by JAMB, dated March 20th, and signed by Mrs. Mabel E. Agbebaku, on behalf of the Registrar/Chief Executive of JAMB, Professor Is'haq Olanrewaju Oloyede, JAMB appreciated the thoughtfulness of the Ministry to partner it in promoting sporting activities among the teeming youths in tertiary institutions.

'The Board of JAMB has accepted to sponsor the championship annually, believing it to be a gesture towards discharging part of our corporate social responsibility, and hoping that the initiative will achieve the desired goals', the letter read in part.

JAMB also approved the inclusion of four of its officials to be part of the Main Organising Committee (MOC). They include Mr. Hamzat Balogun, Dr. Yusuf Lawal, Mr. Fabian Okoro and Dr. Mahmuda A. Mahmud.

Confirming the development, the Commissioner for Sports and Youth Development in Kwara state, Pharmacist Kale Ayo said that the championship has been scheduled to hold in August in Ilorin, with 16 tertiary institutions that cut across the universities, polytechnics and Colleges of Education taking part.

He thanked JAMB for the opportunity, even as he commended the state government for providing the enabling atmosphere for the development of youths and sports in the state and beyond.