African Women’s Volleyball Inter-Cub Championship: CAVB President, officials laud Nigeria’s hospitality

Although the curtains could have drawn on the 39th African Women’s Volleyball Inter-Cub Championship which was held in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city from 1st to 13th April, 2025 with Zamalek Sporting Club of Egypt emerging as champions beating compatriots Ahly to the top prize, President and officials of the Confederation of African Volleyball Confederation (CAVB) have commended the organization and facilities provided by Nigeria through the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) saying it has clearly shown that Nigeria in particular and Africa is ripe to host international competitions.

CAVB President, Bouchra Hajij, while speaking with Sporting Tribune expressed total satisfaction in Nigeria’s hosting a successful competition in terms of organization and security. Hajij, who is also the first vice president of International Volleyball Federation (FIVB), said Nigeria has demonstrated its ability to host such high-octane competition describing it as a safe country.

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The CAVB boss specifically lauded the Nigeria Customs Service for organizing a very successful competition by putting up a state-of-the-art facilities for participating teams to display their skills under a very conducive atmosphere.

“We have hundreds of countries from all continents following this game online. Nigeria has shown and demonstrated to all continents that it is a safe country with all facilities because you’ve shown that. We received 16 teams from Africa and you put up good facilities and good infrastructure. And I hope next coming years, we will host another African championship in beach volleyball or indoor.

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“I also want to congratulate the Customs association for this great event. Also my thanks goes to the national federation of Olympic Committee (Nigeria Olympic Committee) for this great championship. Not also to forget the media. As you know, each sports will grow when the media is around. Thank you very much for your great work,” Hajij told Sporting Tribune.

Also in separate interviews with Sporting Tribune, Bai Dodou Jallow, Paul Bitok, Fauzi Boni Nadege and Japier Mhango, President, The Gambia Volleyball Federation, deputy President, Kenya Volleyball Federation, medical delegate, Benin Republic and a delegate from Malawi respectively said Nigeria has made black Africans proud as they gave kudos to Nigeria’s First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu for being the grand patron of the competition and championing women’s cause and to the Comptroller General Customs (CGC), Bashir Adewale Adeniyi and the President, Nigeria Volleyball Federation (NVBF), Musa Nimrod and other stakeholders for organizing a top-shelf competition.

According to Dodou Jallow, “With what we’ve seen from the Nigeria Volleyball Federation (NVBF) and the Customs who are the host of this competition with 16 teams across Africa, it’s been great, it’s been a wonderful competition at the highest level for women in Africa. I thank the Comptroller General of Customs (CGC), the President of NVBF, for taking the bold initiative to organize this competition.

“The competition has been consistently hosted by North Africans and this time, it is the West of Africa. The environment provided by the Nigerian Customs and the NVBF was excellent. I think with what I’ve seen in terms of organization and the facilities, Africa can compete at the big level in women’s volleyball. I want to call on the private sector to support volleyball and help Nigeria to continue to host many continental competitions.

For Bitok, who doubles as the Technical Director, Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) Volleyball Club while revealing that his club also plan to host the competition in 2026 as they we’ve learnt a lot from Nigeria, “Nigeria did well by hosting this competition. The organization was fantastic. I also thank the first lady of Nigeria (Oluremi Tinubu) for accepting to be the patron of women volleyball in Africa. This is a great tournament I’ve not seen recently. I’ve been in this competition for more than 20 years and Customs have shown that they have great potential to host big competition beyond Africa.”

In the words of Boni Nadege, “This is the best tournament celebrating women and I want to thank the First Lady of Nigeria, Oluremi Tinubu, in particular and the Nigeria Customs for a well organized championship.

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“We’ve learnt a lot from this. Black African countries can also host major competition like this to promote the game of volleyball. As you can see, we (black Africans) are not in the finals. We have to work harder to reach that level so that we can also play in the final.”

For Malawian Mhango, he expressed appreciation to the Nigerian government and the people for their hospitality during their stay for the two-week competition.

“Our stay has been exceptional. We have been well taken care of and so far so good, we’re very happy. This is a well organized tournament and the teams also played well.