By Egufe Yafugborhi

UYO – Mobile Telecommunication Network (MTN) has said it is intentional about sustaining the MTN Champs, its athletics talents discovery initiative not for brand glorification but primarily to for the sense of national pride it promotes.

At a stakeholders briefing heralding Tuesday’s kickoff of the MTN Champs Season 3 grand finale at the Godswill Aakpabio Stadium, Uyo, Akwa Ibom state, Emmamoke Ogoro, General Manager, Brand and Communications, MTN Nigeria, said the goal is to return Nigeria to global athletics among the leading nations.

Birthed in 2023, Ogoro said MTN Champs Season 1 and 2, have had over 15,000 athletes across 900 schools participating, with the Season 3 climax in Uyo featuring 40 MVPs selected from the Benin and Lagos legs to fight against athletes from Akwa Ibom and neighboring states for the top ten champions to join the Academy.

Callimo Inino, Regional General Manager, Operations, East, MTN Nigeria disclosed that the initiative from past two seasons has “discovered and selected 20 exceptional talents from different parts of the country currently enrolled in an academy in Lagos on a one-year scholarship.

“What this Champs is doing through the academy is providing three Es: Education, Exposure and Experience. These three things build the skills and attitudinal balance that allow them to grow.”

For Ogoro, as a brand, the dream of having Nigeria on the world stage is a strong vision MTN holds to accomplish with the Champs.

She said, “Football is number one for us a nation, but the next big sports is athletics, track and field. As a brand, beyond whether people have a passion, because children love sports, such as how we all participated in inter house sports, the fundamental thing is a sense of national pride.

“If as Nigeria, we are the beacon of hope in Africa, and we have the likes of Jamaica as a black nation representing the blacks all over the world in the Olympics, I think it is time for us to step back to when we had the likes of Mary Onyale.

“Unfortunately she is not here today but she was with us in Lagos. When Mary Onyali enters the room, all of us with the children were excited. It gives you that nostalgia and it tells you the potential of athletes.

“That is why today we are saying that these children (MTN Champs) you see today, a lot of them as we continue to train them will bring Nigeria back to limelight in world athletics.

“To crown it all is that when you hold that flag (Nigeria’s) it gives you that emotional sense of belonging that you have a root and you’re representing that root. Beyond doing business for profit, we should be able to put Nigeria on the world map.

“It is the ability to bring to the minds of Nigerians that we are one country and we represent something that brings all of us together.

“The bottom line for Mtn Champs is to see how we can get Nigerian athletes for good showings at the Olympics. To see as we have with US, Jamaica, that when they Nigerians on the tracks and field at the Olympics and World Athletics, people are excited. That is the goal.”

Governor Umo Eno, represented by Akwa Ibom state Commissioner for Sports, Elder Paul Bassey, said his administration embraces the MTN Champs passionately “Because we believe in the cause that it stands for, the development of youths, cardinal in the Arise Agenda of the state.

“We have a mandate to develop.
sports from the grassroots. Unfortunately for this country we
have lost, at the world stage, renowned athletes especially in track and field.

“There was hardly a time in the Olympics we do not have Nigerians in the finals, especially in relays and sprints. We have lost that over time. That is why events like this are dear to our heart.

“We thank MTN and the MOC for what they are doing and to say that my administration is also planning a state of the art sports academy in line with what MTN is doing. It is not enough to discover, but they must be nurtured.’

Others who spoke at briefing on the journey so far for MTN Champs were Deji Ogeyingbo, Country Manager, Making of Champions (MoC) with goodwill messages from Prof. Ubong Essien Umoh, Commissioner of Education, Akwa Ibom State and Olabisi Joseph, President, Nigerian School Sports Federation (NSSF).