Unveiling the initiative in Lagos, the Director, PACE Sports and Entertainment Marketing, Mr. Sola Fijabi, explained that HiFL is designed for the purpose of youth development in Nigeria through sports.
“HiFL will also place collegiate sports in Nigeria on the same pedestal as their counterparts in other countries that have recorded successes and build a strong ecosystem of young, home-grown football talents that may become valuable for future national engagement,” he added.
He also expressed the belief that the new sporting initiative would provide sporting talents, within the four walls of the nation’s tertiary institutions, the opportunity to engage and showcase exciting sporting talents, in fulfilment of the marketing company’s objective of engaging the Nigerian youth.
“HiFL is designed to engage and showcase exciting sporting talents from tertiary institutions in Nigeria. HiFL is a part of a bigger body, which is the HiSL -Higher Institutions Sports League. The quest to establish this platform was borne out of the great desire to engage Nigerian youth.
“At present, a significant number of this set of youths is in the universities spread across the country. These talents must be identified and nurtured for sustainability,” Fijabi said.
While pledging his union’s support for the new game, President of the Nigerian University Games Association (NUGA), Prof. Stephen Hamafyelto, believed it would go a long way in engaging the nation’s youths to better focus on their all-round development.
“This initiative is long overdue. We need to engage our youths to better focus on their all-round development. HiFL format is brilliant with an even more interesting execution plan. HiFL will complement the efforts of NUGA to bring back the good old days of competitive inter-school games with all the excitement therein,” he added.
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