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Nigeria will, on October 1st, mark her 50th independence anniversary. It promises to be a grand event with many activities already in place to make the day memorable.

Nigeria’s foremost recreation club, Ikoyi Club, will not be left out of the activities commemorating the country’s golden jubilee as they plan to stage the annual Nigeria Cup golf tournament.

It will be the 14th edition of the golf tourney, which started in 1997, and has since gone on to become one of the most eagerly anticipated events in the country.

“This is the 14th edition, and it coincides with the independence anniversary of our country, and has turned out to be the flagship of the golf tournaments in Ikoyi Club,” disclosed the vice president of Ikoyi Club’s golf section, Frank Gboneme, in an interview with NEXT.

“I dare say that it is the biggest community cup in the whole of Nigeria today. It is already a brand name, and the final always takes place on the Saturday before or immediately after Nigeria’s Independence Day.”

That obviously explains why the tournament is called the Nigeria Cup, and as Nigeria’s independence day celebration will take place on a Friday, it means the final of this year’s Nigeria Cup will come up on Saturday, October 2, at the club’s all-green golf course.

Origins

But what brought about, in the first instance, the concept that later became known as the Nigeria Cup?

Gboneme, an amateur golfer, explains further.

“Prior to the time the Nigeria Cup came to be, so many other community cups were already in place,” recalled Gboneme, with reference to the likes of the French Cup, the Taiwanese Cup, the British Cup, the American Cup, as well as the Japanese Cup tournaments, which were contested for by participants, mostly club members.

“At a time, our people felt that ‘we are the hosts and we don’t even have a Nigeria Cup’, so they came together and in 1997 they were able to put up this tournament which has continued till today,” he said.

Big money for the pros

Although the Nigeria Open started as an event strictly limited to golfers at the exclusive Ikoyi Club, it has, over the past couple of years, opened its doors to guest players, as well as professional golfers, who now have a separate tournament for themselves, which runs side-by-side with the amateur tournament.

And for their efforts, a whooping two million naira, a hundred percent increase from last year’s kitty, has been set aside as prize money for the professional players taking part in the weeklong tourney.

“This year, we have decided to increase the prize money from one to two million naira,” Mr. Gboneme continued.

“It’s also a way of encouraging future Nigeria Cup organising committees to increase the prize money at future events, so as to entice the best golfers in the land to take part in it,” he said.

Something for the kids

In addition, the Nigeria Cup will also encompass a tournament for children under the age of 15, which will run alongside a golf clinic. They will also be engaged in creative art classes.

This session is being organised in conjunction with the African Art Resource Center, which will, amongst providing other services aimed at developing the creative skills of the participants, enlists the services of over 20 renowned artists to tutor the children.

The qualifying round preceding the actual tournament comes up next Saturday, but the main draw doesn’t get underway until the week leading up to the nation’s independence anniversary.

There will also be an evening of classical music, which will also take place on Wednesday, September 29, while two days later, on independence day, there will be a cultural night with fireworks to precede the final, which comes up the following day.

Following the final, a gala night will hold “at the Civic Center, where we believe everyone will have a better environment to interact,” said Mr. Gboneme.