Lagos prepares for Nigeria's first wheelchair American football exhibition

Nigeria is preparing to host its first wheelchair American football exhibition, with four teams set to compete in Lagos on Thursday. The event will take place at the National Institute for Sports in Surulere.

Lagos Dynamos, Iron Invicta, Liberty Pioneers and Atlantic Chargers will play in a knockout competition. The winners of the semi-finals will advance to the final after more than two months of training by the participating athletes.

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There are so many disabled athletes, there are many people out there who are looking for these opportunities and many people who fall into these categories and life seemed very hopeless to them because there’s no opportunity to showcase what they have.

For American Football Elite Development, the exhibition is intended to be more than a one-day competition. The organisation says it wants to establish a structured route for athletes with disabilities to participate in the sport, develop their abilities and pursue careers through it.

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This is a platform we believe that you as journalists, the media, can help us to be able to bring these people out of their hiding, to bring them out of their shells, to be able to take this opportunity.

AFEDEV founder Lawrence Ojaide said the initiative responds to the lack of opportunities available to many disabled athletes. He called on journalists and the media to help bring people out of hiding and give them a chance to build better lives through sport.

Executive Director Nina Agwuna said AFEDEV is seeking partnerships with communities and organisations to support athletes who have been overlooked in sport. She said many wheelchair users have strong abilities in sport, business and other fields, and that the organisation wants to help develop their talent.

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We are looking forward to synergizing, we’re looking forward to partnering with different communities out there who are willing to be part of this amazing thing for people who have been neglected, especially in the sports field.

AFEDEV also plans to establish a structured wheelchair league, an academy and a tackle football programme for able-bodied athletes. The organisation is working on additional athlete-development initiatives as it seeks to expand American football in Nigeria.

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I believe that we have amazing athletes who are very brilliant, are also entrepreneurs, who are amazing in different fields of what their own natural gifts are.