Wike pledges help for golf growth as AACT 2026 kicks off

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has pledged help for the event of ladies’s and junior golf in Nigeria as Abuja prepares to host the 2026 All Africa Challenge Trophy (AACT), which begins on Monday November 2, 2026 with arrival of golfers and others.

Wike gave the reassurance when he acquired a delegation of the Ladies Golf Association of Nigeria (LGAN), led by its President, Dr Lami Onayi Ahmed, at his official residence in Life Camp, Abuja. Blueprint stories

The minister’s commitments embody help for the development of a everlasting nationwide workplace for LGAN, help in the direction of services for junior golf growth within the FCT and a cost-sharing association for the closing banquet and prize presentation of the continental championship.

The assembly got here as preparations reached their ultimate stage for the November 2 to 7 event, which is anticipated to draw girls golfers and delegates from greater than 30 African international locations.

Wike agrees to help LGAN workplace, junior golf services

One of the most important outcomes of the assembly was Wike’s willingness to help LGAN’s request for a everlasting workplace and services to advertise the event of junior golf within the FCT.

The minister stated the administration was ready to contemplate the affiliation’s proposal for land, however pressured the necessity for clear growth plans and timelines to make sure that any property allotted could be put to productive use.

The dedication is anticipated to strengthen the affiliation’s institutional capability and supply a extra everlasting base for coordinating its actions, significantly its efforts to develop girls’s participation and introduce extra younger folks to the game.

For LGAN, the proposed services characterize a possibility to maneuver past organising competitions in the direction of constructing a sustainable growth construction that may determine, prepare and nurture rising abilities.

Wike’s response additionally underscored the significance of linking main sporting occasions to long-term funding in grassroots participation and sporting infrastructure.

FCT to share value of AACT closing banquet

The minister additionally agreed to a 50-50 cost-sharing association with LGAN for using the Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre for the event’s closing banquet and prize presentation.

The association is anticipated to offer an acceptable venue for the formal conclusion of the championship, the place collaborating groups, officers and invited company will collect to have a good time the competitors and recognise excellent performances.

The help provides to the institutional backing for the occasion, which is able to deliver collectively representatives of African golf associations and supply Abuja with a possibility to showcase its capability to host main worldwide sporting gatherings.

LGAN had sought the minister’s intervention as a part of its efforts to make sure that the event’s closing actions match the profile of a continental championship.

Wike speaks on renovation of IBB golf course

On the state of the competitors venue, Wike assured the delegation of the FCT Administration’s help for the profitable internet hosting of the championship.

He acknowledged the work being undertaken to enhance the IBB International Golf and Country Club, which is anticipated to welcome golfers from throughout Africa for the six-day competitors.

The minister disclosed that renovation and enchancment work on the facility had reached roughly 35 per cent completion on the time of the assembly.

He stated the administration had engaged the corporate chargeable for setting up the golf course to undertake the required enhancements forward of the event.

The intervention is aimed toward addressing the deteriorating situation of the power and enhancing its readiness for the calls for of internet hosting a continental championship.

With the competitors scheduled to start on Monday, the situation of the course and different services stays central to preparations by the organisers and related authorities.

The IBB International Golf and Country Club beforehand hosted the All Africa Challenge Trophy in 2010, making the 2026 version one other alternative for the power to function a venue for elite girls’s golf on the continent.

LGAN seeks lasting positive factors past continental championship

Earlier, LGAN President, Dr Lami Onayi Ahmed, stated the event would appeal to golfers and delegates from greater than 30 African international locations, inserting Abuja within the highlight as a vacation spot for sports activities, tourism and hospitality.

She appealed for the minister’s endorsement and help for the event of ladies’s and junior golf, explaining that the affiliation’s ambition prolonged past internet hosting a profitable championship.

According to her, the event presents a possibility to construct an enduring basis for the game by encouraging wider participation, strengthening grassroots programmes and creating pathways for younger golfers.

The affiliation is in search of to make use of the publicity generated by the competitors to draw extra help for ladies in golf and encourage youthful generations to take up the game.

The proposed everlasting workplace and junior growth services are subsequently a part of a broader imaginative and prescient to strengthen the administration of ladies’s golf and develop entry to the sport.

Wike’s pledges, if translated into concrete tasks, may present essential help for these targets and assist maintain curiosity in golf past the event.

Nigeria hosts AACT for third time

The 2026 All Africa Challenge Trophy might be Nigeria’s third time internet hosting the continental girls’s golf championship.

The nation beforehand hosted the competitors in 1996 at Ikoyi Club 1938, Lagos, earlier than staging the 2010 version on the IBB International Golf and Country Club, Abuja.

The 2026 championship will run from November 2 to 7 on the similar Abuja facility beneath the theme, “Uniting Africa through the greens.”

The competitors is anticipated to deliver collectively girls golfers from throughout the continent, offering an avenue for sporting trade, continental solidarity and the promotion of ladies’s participation in golf.

For Nigeria, internet hosting the championship additionally affords a possibility to exhibit its organisational capability and showcase the nation’s sporting infrastructure to visiting delegations.

With simply someday remaining earlier than the opening, consideration is shifting in the direction of the arrival of collaborating groups and the ultimate preparations on the IBB International Golf and Country Club.

The help pledged by the FCT minister provides one other dimension to the championship, significantly the prospect of changing the event’s visibility into longer-term funding in girls’s and junior golf.

As Africa’s golfers put together to converge on Abuja, LGAN might be hoping that the commitments secured from the FCT Administration will outlive the six-day competitors and contribute to a stronger future for the game in Nigeria.