Former Nigerian international and one-time captain of the Super Eagles, Austin Jay Jay Okocha, will lead some of his colleagues in the team to file out against a select Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited team, as the13th NNPC Ltd. Sports Fiesta kicks-off on Sunday.
The novelty football encounter scheduled for the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja is scheduled to be the climax of one week of sports as part of this year’s edition of the biennial sports Fiesta with the theme “Healthy Workforce, Productive Organization”.
The organisers said the football competition is part of the preparations by the NNPC Ltd. towards retaining its legendary status as the team to beat during the forthcoming Nigeria Oil & Gas Industry Games (NOGIG) coming up later in April, this year.
A statement by the company’s spokesperson, Olufemi Soneye said Fiesta symbolises NNPC Ltd’s belief in the integral role of physical well-being towards enhancing organizational productivity among employees.
Soneye said the sports event would see the Company’s employees competing in 13 games, namely football, basketball, volleyball, chess, squash, scrabble, 8-ball pool, golf, tennis, table tennis, badminton, swimming and athletics.
In the novelty football match scheduled for Friday at the main bowl of the National Stadium, Abuja, the NNPC Ltd Football Team would be trading tackles with some of the Ex-Super Eagles Stars, led by Nigeria’s legendary Captain, Austin JJ Okocha.
In this year’s event , organisers said the six NNPC Ltd zones have undergone a restructuring, following their consolidation into three teams that represent the Company’s three core values of Integrity (Port Harcourt/Benin); Excellence (Lagos/Warri) and Sustainability (Abuja/Kaduna).
The tournament, which is set to showcase friendly, yet spirited contests among the three teams, would also serve as a platform for selecting NNPC Ltd’s potential flagbearers at the forthcoming Nigeria Oil & Gas Industry Games (NOGIG) in April 2024, where the Company would be featuring as the defending champion for its emergence as overall winners over the years.
The NNPC Ltd has been a serial winner of the NOGIG Games, which also features other participants from International Oil Companies (IOCs) operating in Nigeria and key agencies under the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources.
During the last edition of NOGIG held in 2020 at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos, NNPC Ltd emerged the overall winners of the tournament, carting home 48 laurels, which included 13 gold, 16 silver and 19 bronze medals.
