Nigeria bags international cricket ‘impact’ award

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday announced the Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF) winner of the ‘Cricket 4 Good Social Impact Initiative of the Year’.

The NCF project in using cricket as a tool for engaging and assisting in the development of internally displaced refugees as a result of the insurgency and terrorism perpetrated by Boko Haram in Nigeria had attracted the attention of the international body as the 2021 season was being reviewed.

Reacting to the award, Uyi Akpata, president of the NCF, said his management team was inspired by what it has been doing to attract global recognition.

“With about two thousand young cricketers introduced to the sport and a boys and girls team involved in the states secondary schools’ tournament, we have seen cricket largely contributing to addressing the issues of integration and inclusion of disadvantaged children in the country. It is on this score that we have gladly accepted this special recognition,” Akpata said.

The award-winning project is an outreach run by Promoting Ethics Through Sports (PETS) foundation to the internally displaced peoples camp in Benin which has gone beyond handing the campers’ cricket skills by also handing them life skills necessary to pick themselves up again.

“We are very proud of this award and the team of dedicated coaches and leaders that have taken up the challenge of reaching out to the camp. We are also grateful to the team running the camp for trusting us with the people there and most especially the Edo State Cricket Association which performs the oversight function on behalf of the cricket federation,” he also said.

The NCF president said the lives being impacted by the weekly programme in addition to the positive feedback had motivated the federation to dedicate resources and personnel to the camp since the project commenced.

“The camp is being primed to produce male and female teams that will compete in the forthcoming Edo State Cricket League,” he said.