IWD: Minister commends Foundation’s contribution to sports development

The Minister of Women’s Affairs, Imaan Suleiman-Ibrahim, has commended FAME Foundation for its consistency in promoting women’s and girls’ causes through the game of football.

Suleiman-Ibrahim gave the commendation at the 9th FAME Foundation International Women’s Day Football Tournament 2026 held at the Area 3 Football Pitch, Abuja, over the weekend as part of activities marking International Women’s Day.

International Women’s Day, celebrated on March 8 every year, is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. It also commemorates women’s fight for equality and liberation along with the women’s rights movement.

The minister, who performed the ceremonial kickoff at the event, described Nigerian women as phenomenal citing their achievements in bringing sports glory to the country in recent times. She assured of government’s support to engage women and girls in productive engagements such as sports and other areas of endeavour that will not only make them to excel but also contribute positively to Nigeria’s growth.

She said “I congratulate FAME Foundation on this 9th edition of the International Women’s Day football tournament. As we are aware, Nigerian women are phenomenal. They are energetic, they are smart. We have to engage them from every angle. Our Falcons and D Tigress have recorded consecutive victories in the Women’s African Cup of Nations and Women’s Afrobasket. And I want to affirm government’s commitment to engaging women in various sports and digital sectors to pave the way for leadership.”

The Executive Director, FAME Foundation, Arabinrin Aderonke Atoyebi, said she chose football because it is a sport that unifies the country and most importantly to promote unity and sisterhood among the women.

“Nigeria is a heterogeneous in nature and the only thing that unifies us in Nigeria is sports. Whenever any of the national teams are playing, no one cares about religion, no cares about tribe, no one cares about state or ethnic group. So, we feel that this is a very good one and we know that sports is a very good tool to bring people together.

“We have brought together women from different class, different regions, different ethnicities embracing one themselves because we are doing sports here. We are doing this to drive social change especially for unity and sisterhood which are very important,” Atoyebi said.

13 teams participated in the one-day namely; ProSocial, IDP, NYSC, FIDA, NUT, Bet9JA Foundation, FAME and Unity. Others are Ashwan, Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), CNS, NCWS and Team Core. Team FAME won the competition through penalties by 8 goals to 7 after the regulation time ended goalless.