It is going to be a beehive of activities for the next two weeks at the Indoor Sports Hall, package B of the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja as the 2025 Comptroller General of Customs (CGC) Volleyball Premier League serves off on Saturday, 20th September with 24 teams; 12 male and 12 female teams, sizing one another up for the league diadem.
This was revealed at a press conference heralding the competition, which was held on Friday evening at the conference room of the Nigeria Volleyball Federation (NVBF) and attended by officials of the Federation and the representative of the CGC and Customs Head of Sports, Samuel Onikeku.
Briefing journalists about the event, the chairman of the league management committee, who is also the second vice president of the NVBF, Mrs Nkechi Nzogwu, commended the CGC Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, for his unflinching support and love for volleyball and also for providing the funds to make the league a reality.
She assured that the League will live up to expectations and urged the players to contest under the atmosphere of friendship and embrace the spirit of sportsmanship in the course of the competition. Nzogwu commended the NVBF president, Musa Nimrod, for his efforts in putting Nigeria on the global map by ensuring the growth and development of volleyball in the country.
“For the 2025 Premier League, Nigeria Volleyball Federation, in collaboration with the Nigeria Customs Service, is organising this Premier League. The League is starting on the 19th of September and will be ending on the 2nd of October.
“This year’s League is going to be very exciting. It is very worthwhile because we are going to appreciate the Comptroller General of Customs because of the sponsorship. He did it last year and he is repeating it again this year. And this year is going to be very unique. Why? Because he is going to put smiles on the faces of the players and then at the end of the day, they will all have something to go home with. 24 teams, 12 male and female teams will compete for the title and we look forward to a very interesting competition.
“I will use this opportunity to equally thank our President, Engineer Musa Nimrod, for all that he has been doing to ensure that the growth and development of Nigerian volleyball goes beyond Nigeria and internationally-wise,” the NVBF second vice president stated.
Speaking on behalf of the Customs boss, Onikeku assured that everything has been put in place to make the competition a memorable one as the welfare of the players remains at the top of the shelf.
Onikeku added that the CGC is not just interested in volleyball but also in other sports to keep the youths busy and engage in productive ventures. He further revealed that his boss has increased incentives for the teams and the players to motivate and prepare them for the competition proper.
He announced that winners in both categories will go home with a princely sum of N5 million, N3 million and N2 million for the second and third place teams, respectively.
Onikeku said, “It is with great joy that I come to this press conference to represent the Comptroller General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, for his commitment to sports development in Nigeria. As we can remember from last year, he decided to sponsor the Premier League to put smiles on the faces of volleyballers in Nigeria.
“And at the end of the championship, the first position went home with N5 million, second place with N3 million and third place N2 million, 4th to 12 place went home with N500,000 each. And again, he has decided to do it again with increased subsidies to the teams and the players.
“Last year’s subsidy to teams were N300,000 and this year he has taken it up to N500,000 each to each team. And the game’s player subsidy has gone to N500,000 each. So the subsidy for the teams and players in this first phase is N24 million. I want to use this opportunity to appreciate the CGC and we know that more is still coming. I want to say welcome to everybody. We pray for injury-free competition.”
Officials of the NVBF present at the briefing were Wosilat Abbas (secretary general), Martin Melandi (technical director), Professor Ebenezer Morakinyo and Prince Tunde Omisore (board members).
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