The maiden edition of the K.I.O Consult sponsored Abuja Inter-Secondary Schools Athletics Championship (AISSAC) is scheduled for June 4 at the ultra-modern MKO Abiola national stadium in Abuja.
The cadet championship which is for male and female students below 18 years is expected to feature 14 secondary schools in the Federal Capital Territory.
The managing partner of KIO Consult, Kesiena Oghoghorie, who is the brain behind the Championship, said it is a grassroots sports programme designed to serve as a breeding ground for Nigerian athletes.
He reiterated that it is modelled after the Jamaican Inter-Secondary Schools Boys and Girls Championship that produced athletics greats like Usain Bolt and Yohan Blakes.
Oghoghorie, who said the Abuja cadet Championship is going to comply with World Athletics Standard disclosed that starting blocks would be for the students athletics, especially for those who may want to use it.
According to him, events on the schedule include 100m, 200m, 400m, 4 x 100m Relay,4 x 400m Relay, 4 x 400m (Mixed Relay), Long Jump and Javelin.
Oghoghorie said he is committed to the project to address the huge decline in school athletics competition in Nigeria, which has adversely affected the country’s performance at the global level.
“School sports are the bedrock of any sports development programme in any nation. Nigeria, during its glory days of athletics, had a very robust and vibrant school athletics system.
“There was, for example, the Empire Day competition in the colonial era, the Grier Cup Competition in the Western Provinces in 1933, the Fisher Shield in the East and the Hussey Shield athletics competition between teams representing the schools in the North and South of Nigeria, among others,” said Oghoghorie.
