Kings, Queens Colleges To Host Achimota In Friendlies

All is now set for the first ever co-hosting of the bilateral secondary school games between Nigeria and Ghana scheduled to hold between July 10 and July 14 in Lagos.

Principals of the host institutions, Mr Dele Olapeju of Kings College and Mrs Modupe Ladipo, of Queens College both in Lagos, disclosed this to the newsmen in a joint interview in Lagos.

They said that the schools would be hosting the Achimota College, Accra Ghana, a co-educational school in the week-long competition.

They said that this year’s event would be the best as new dimensions would be introduced to the games.

The principals noted that the schools would engage their Ghanaian counterpart in games such as female football, chess and scrabble.

“Before now, Kings College usually takes on the Achimota boys, a foremost college in Ghana in traditional sports such as football, hockey and cricket.

“But now, Achimota is requesting that their girls should also engage Queens College, a sister institution to Kings College on other games to add more colour and fun to the competition.

“We on our part have concluded arrangements in terms of logistics to ensure the event comes out well,” Ladipo said.

Also speaking, Olapeju noted that the games would further strengthen the existing relationship among the schools, adding that education was not all about going to school and receiving lessons.

“Adventure is part of education. When children move out and meet their counterparts from other countries and engage them in friendly games, all stereotypes are reduced and the aims of ECOWAS achieved.

“What we are doing is to sustain the fraternities that bind us together as African countries and foster unity among the ECOWAS states in the region.

“Already, we are trying to reach out to some old boys from different countries on the need to have one heritage school in their respective countries engaged in this kind of games as this would relive old memories.

“We are aware that there are foremost colleges in various countries around the west coast and such colleges are expected to participate in this kind of friendly games,” Olapeju added.

According to him, such games could create platforms that could snowball into something positive in the future, in the area of national development.

The Kings College principal explained that the week-long competition, would among other things, showcase some calisthenics by girls from Queens College.

“We shall be witnessing a display of calisthenics during the games, a performance which Queens College is well known for.

“I can assure everyone that the game is gradually gaining the desired recognition within and outside the country,” Olapeju said.