The third edition of Nigeria’s largest Schools’ Athletics Championships, called “MTN CHAMPS,” will take place in Benin City, Edo State.
MTN Nigeria’s General Manager, Segment and Devices, Idowu Adesokan, said during a courtesy visit to Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo, at Government House, that the first edition, which took place in four cities—Benin, Uyo, Ibadan, and Abuja—brought together over 7,000 athletes and nearly 500 schools, who competed in three age groups: Cadet (U-14), Youth (U-17), and Junior (U-20).
“For the first time, all the competitions before the grand final will be held at two locations with MTN CHAMPS Athletics Classics in Benin, holding at both the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium and UNIBEN Sports Complex simultaneously.”
“MTN CHAMPS Continental Relays will bring the championship to Lagos for the first time and will be held in both Yabatech Sports Complex and UNILAG Sports Complex. The grand finale will be held at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State,” he said.
Adesokan told Okpebholo that MTN Champs is a grassroots initiative that the firm created with its partners to revive athletics in Nigeria while requesting the Edo State government’s support for the program.
He said: “When we started MTN Champs in 2023, Edo State, Benin was one of the places we started with then and it was very successful. That is why we repeated it in 2024, but in 2024, we didn’t come to Edo State, we went to other states. Now we are back in Edo state.”
Governor Okpebholo expressed delight to receive MTN Champs team to the state, just as he assured them that whatever they want from the state government would be given to them.
He said the state would gladly partner with MTN to make the event a success.
