By Rita Yagson & Ejike Emmanuel
The maiden edition of Unijos Annual Peace Sports Championship for tertiary institutions in Plateau State (UNAPSCTIPS) has opened at the Jeremiah Useni Mini Stadium, Naraguta Campus, University of Jos with the Vice Chancellor, Professor Hayward Mafuyai urging Nigerians to see themselves as peace ambassadors.
He stated at the opening that the tournament was the institution’s way of practicalizing commitment to sustainable peace.
According to him, “this has been organized to bring youth on the Plateau irrespective of tribe, ethnic and religion so that we can come together to tell the nation that we are seeking for peace and that we are peace ambassadors. That, we sincerely pray and wish to express through a medium of sports that has been known to unite Nigerians more than any other thing.”
Mafuyai said the idea of the tournament was conceptualized within his first six months in office to take the issue of peace from mere rhetorics or theory to practice.
Chairman of the occasion, Mallam Alhassan Yakmut who is the Director for Grassroots Sports Development in the Federal Sports Ministry, commended the university’s administration for the laudable programme, adding that “the basic aim of the programme is promoting peace through competing in various sports”.
He described sports as a unifying factor through which violence and aggression are avoided and civility and friendship promoted. He donated the sum of twenty thousand naira to the overall best team.
The opening ceremony featured a march past by the participating institutions and a challenging football encounter between the host team and Plateau State University (PLASU) which Unijos won 3-1.
Unijos went into the lead barely 11minutes into the match from a shot by Igwe Uzor. Daniel Arrow made it two for the host team 26 minutes later while Zaka Kankani capped it up after converting a brilliant pass from Pedro Alfred raising the tally to 3-0.
A consolation goal came for the Plateau State University 10 minutes to the end of the match, to change the score line to 3-1.
Coach Yusufu Yapwong of PLASU said he was not surprised at his team’s defeat as that was the first time taking part in such tournament. He urged the fans to expect something better next time as they will go back to re-strategize.
Eleven institutions are participating in the competition featuring football, basketball and volleyball.
