Nigeria Content Online

The
23rd Nigeria University Games Association (NUGA), UNIBEN 2011 may have
come and gone but the memory of it will linger on for a long time in
the minds of many people as it brought notable changes in their
financial status.

Five days after the games ended, a lot of traders in Benin City are still counting the gains they made at the games.

While the games
lasted, traders took advantage of the influx of athletes, officials and
visitors to two campuses of the university, to engage in lucrative
businesses.

Articles ranging
from foods, clothes, shoes, educational items, herbal medicines,
recharge cards, sachet water and a variety of other household goods
were displayed and sold at the two campuses of UNIBEN; , Ugbowo and
Ekehuan.

Yakubu, who
operated a shop where he branded T-shirts for those who desired them,
said business was good while the games lasted. According to him, he
charged N200 to brand T-shirts that attracted N100 before the games.

“The students were still happy to pay the increased fee. I wish the games never ended,” he said.

Addoh Endurance, a
supervisor at the UNIBEN Integrated Stand, an eatery outfit owned by
the University of Benin, told NEXT that sales during the games were “so
encouraging that the school authority had to set up another stand by
the entrance of the sports complex.”

A fruit seller who gave his name simply as Adamu revealed that he sold more than two wheelbarrow loads of watermelon per day.

Good business

Among the traders
at the Ugbowo campus of UNIBEN was a trader one would hardly expect to
meet at the games. Joke Odunusi who sold herbal medicine came all the
way from Ijebu Ode to sell her products. And according to her, “the
patronage was surprisingly high, she said. “I even had to send word to
my husband at home to send some of the herbs the students were
demanding, like medicine for “man power”( libido enhancing drug),
sexually transmitted infections and some other strange ailments. I wish
NUGA games will be held here every year, sales have never been this
good for me,” she told NEXTSports.

Pay phone operators
also smiled to the bank as they were kept busy from morning till night.
Sales of recharge cards, they said were more than triple of the normal
day sales. Telecommunications companies also took advantage of the
games to advertise some of their products to prospective customers with
commercial vehicle operators within and outside both campuses kept busy
from dawn till dusk, moving commuters, who were never short of places
to visit.

Trading at both the
Ugbowo and Ekehuan campuses however, came at a price. Faith, an
indigene of Agbor who sold sachet water (popularly known as pure water)
at the sports complex said the university authorities charged each
hawker of sachet water and recharge cards, N1,000 for the registration
form, which they paid into a designated bank account, N3,000 for
trading permit and N450 for identification badge, which they had to
hang on their necks bringing the total amount they paid to the school
to N4,450.00. She added that those who operated from make-shift shops
however paid more.