NCF set for biggest cricket festival ever in October, says Akpata

Posted : 25 September 2024

No fewer than 1,000 schoolgirls are expected to take part in the upcoming International Cricket Council (ICC)/Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF) Women’s Cricket Festival.

Uyi Akpata, president of the NCF, said this on Tuesday at a media briefing aimed at analyzing the federation's activities in recent years.

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Akpata spoke against the backdrop of the federation’s partnership with the world governing body, the ICC, and the opportunities the country has gained.

“We are going to launch a super female involvement in cricket through a modified format. It is the Women’s Cricket Festival.

“We are bringing between 600 and 1,000 schoolgirls to Abuja to come and have fun, and it is going to be on the back of the National Women’s Championship.

“We will have the best female cricketers around, and we will be inviting an ICC women’s representative as well, and the cricket template will be replicated in other parts of the country.

“The ICC identified two countries in Africa, Nigeria and Rwanda, to champion this initiative, and this is because of what we have done in women’s cricket.

“We have won global and continental awards and accolades in the course of women’s cricket, and we can see this investment bearing fruit already,” Akpata added.

Regarding the federation’s achievements so far, Akpata said leadership and a good governance structure played a key role.

“When we were facing serious misgivings about our leadership and governance, we revamped our leadership structure.

“At the time, it was led by Prof. Yahaya Ukwenya, a surgeon, and myself, who was the vice president, although I had a pedigree as one of the senior members of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) at that time.

“It was not about credentials but about implementation.

“So, we put up that structure, and the rest of the board came along and saw how deliberate we were in terms of transparency, and they bought in.

“This was to the extent that when the template of an effective governance structure was given to associate countries in Africa by the ICC, they had to tell us to review it and see whether it was consistent with best practices.

“That is what we did. Now, we have become a positive reference point, and we must always align ourselves with the ICC and their templates,” Akpata added.

Also at the event, the NCF brand ambassador for women’s cricket, Adaora Onyechere Sydney-Jack, said she would be using her experience in community journalism to drive awareness for the game.

“When I look at women’s cricket in the country, I see that the future is near.

“If we begin to appraise women’s cricket in countries like India, South Africa, Australia, and more, we see that they have done well for themselves due to strategic partnerships.

“As a brand ambassador, I will focus on strategic partnerships and community development.

“This is where you see cricket playing a key role, and I will be using my brand as a mainstay in community journalism; that is an area I will need to drive,” Sydney-Jack noted.

NCF set for biggest cricket festival ever in October, says Akpata

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