… introduces National Intermediate Games For Ages 16 – 19
By: Edem Archibong, Calabar
The National Sports Commission and Others Stakeholders in Nigeria have jointly commended the administration of President Bola Ahemd Tinubu “for his unwavering commitment to advancing sports development in Nigeria through the redesignation of the National Sports Commission and his unprecedented Supports for Sports sector” as a whole.
This assertion is contained in the Communique of the 2nd National Council on Sports Meeting which took place in Calabar from Wednesday to Friday, 28th November, 2025 with the theme: “Business of Sports: Creating Jobs, Wealth and Unity under Renewed Hope Agenda”.
The meeting also commended the current leadership of National Sports Commission for adopting a business like pragmatic approach for the successes that have been recorded in recent times in sports sector.
Similarly, the Sports Commission also expressed their sincere appreciation to His Excellency, Senator Prince Bassey Edet Otu, the Governnor of Cross River State for the hospitality, reception and Supports in hosting the National Council on Sports into the state is a landmark achievements for the state.
The Communique further provide that there will be henceforth an adequate insurance coverage for all athletes, officials and the sports facilities during national sports competitions; ensure that each state contingents will provides a centralized verifiable insurance coverage to the competitors during all competition organized by the National Sports Commission. And each state contingents must comply to the insurance policy before participation.
The aforesaid insurance policy coverage for the competitors will always apply on the three classes of competitions to be organized by the National Sports Commission namely:
1. National Youth Games (NYG) for ages 15 and below athletes.
2. National Intermediate Games (NIG) – a new national competition aimed at Bridging the gap between the National Youth Games and the National Sports Festival (NSF) to ensure a continuous and structured pathway for athletes development in Nigeria (aged 16 – 19).
3. National School Sports Festival ( NSF). The three games will be held biennially, alternating with NYG and NSF to ensuring that at least one major National event occurs each year.
For the newly introduced National Intermediate Games (NIG) in Nigeria, Lagos State have been mandated to host the inaugural competition in November, 2026 while while the traditional National Sports Festival NSF will be hosted by Enugu State with a clear mandate for the National Sports Commission to ensure for the development of three more additional centers in Enugu State to enhance successful hosting of the event. This have been reported to be near completion.
On age cheating which have become a common practice in Nigeria, the National Sports Commission and other Stakeholders had vowed to adopt the International sanctions code against any athletes that would be cougth on age cheating during any of the National Sports Commission organized competitions. Both the athletes and the officials will face severe sanctions in 2026.
In the same vien, the Nigerian Sports Authority have taken a Stern decision to henceforth comply with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) standards by also establishing the National Agency For Doping Control (NADC) design to adopt the international standards policy.
