By Stella Odueme
The 13th NNPC Ltd. Sports Fiesta kicks off on Sunday, February 18th at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja as the company strives to retain its legendary status of the team to beat in the Nigeria Oil & Gas Industry Games (NOGIG) coming up later in April, this year.
The one-week event, which will climax on Friday, 23rd February, 2024, will also feature a novelty match that will see the NNPC Ltd Football Team trading tackles with Ex-Super Eagles Stars, led by Nigeria’s legendary Captain, Austin JJ Okocha.
According to NNPCL, the 2024 edition of the biennial event themed “Healthy Workforce, Productive Organization,” symbolises the company’s belief in the integral role of physical well-being towards enhancing organizational productivity among employees.
A statement by Olufemi O. Soneye,
Chief Corporate Communications Officer of
NNPC Ltd at the weekend said the event will 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.
” This year, 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 statement noted that the tournament, which is set to showcase friendly yet spirited contests among the three teams, will 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 will defend its title of Overall Winner, a feat it has maintained over the years.
It will be recalled that 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.
It would be recalled that during the last edition of NOGIG held in 2020 at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos, NNPC Ltd emerged the overall winner of the tournament, carting home 48 laurels, which include 13 gold, 16 silver and 19 bronze medals.