.….Plans Clean Sweep Of prizes At stake
By Oluwatobiloba Kumoye
The President of the Nigeria Scrabble Federation, (NSF), Engineer, Chief Olobatoke Aka, has assured that the nation that Team Nigeria will be calling the shots, at the second edition of the Africa Youth Scrabble Championship, (AYSC).
He gave this strong assurance in an interview recently stating that Nigeria will be dictating the pace at the highly anticipated continental showpiece.
“The goal is for us to dominate as we have been dominating in the adult scrabble. The goal is for us to show our talent, because we are naturally inclined to play good scrabble in the world, the whole world knows us to that feat so we don’t want the youths to be left behind,” he said.
Chief Toke Aka explained, that he isn’t bluffing as the NSF specially picked some of the very best of Young scrabble players to represent the Giants of Africa.
“One unique thing about this Team Nigeria, is that members of the team was selected from many other players, they were selected to represent Nigeria after rigorous competitions,” he emphasized.
Defending champions, Nigeria will be calling the shots in Kenya with a 7-member squad, featuring 3 females and 4 males.
Captain Sufyan Boluwatife Olojoku, a fierce and tactical scrabbler, will be leading the rampage in the East African country, alongside Joy Nwabuzor, Abdulqudus Aliu, Hassan Olojoku, Prestige Archibong, Sophia Ekeruche and Eliana Igbe.
The NSF President further emphasized that although Nigeria is not fielding a large team, they are potent enough to cause serious damage in the land of Harambee Stars.
“There are more prizes than we are taking players for, but I’m 99 percent sure that the number we are taking for the championship will definitely win prizes,” he said.
He expressed deep joy and excitement in the squad, adding that the Team is a product of years of hardwork by the federation in developing Scrabble among the youths.
“I feel highly elated and fulfilled, for some time now, we have been concentrating more on adult scrabble, but the time has come now for the youths to also shine. And this is so because in the last few years we’ve been developing the youth scrabble, because we also need a feeder for the adult Scrabble, it makes me feel highly elated that we were able to compete at the second edition of the Africa Youth Scrabble Championship,” he explained.
He went on to add that various schools, that accepted the game of words and minds, were part of the building blocks of the team.
“I’ve never been to any school and talked about Scrabble to a principal or head master of the school and they refuse to take it up, you know because Scrabble is a game that will make sure you spell correctly because if you spell bad words on the board you’ll lose your turn, you also need arithmetical skills to be able to play Scrabble very well because Scrabble is a game where you play words, you count, you add you multiply, at the same time, we don’t use calculators for all of that, so you must learn how to do all of this, so I don’t see any principal that will come and say, don’t bring Scrabble into my school, so it’s an easy sell to schools, it’s something that supposed to be added to the curriculum of schools, as a play way method of learning,” he noted.
He highlighted that the mind game, not only serves as a source of exposure, but can also serve as a huge source of money in the future.
“Youth scrabble is easier to sustain than adult scrabble, and people have more compassion for the youths than the adults, maybe because we believe adults can take care of themselves. We are that with the high level of exposure the youth are having, they will not depart from.it as they have started rightly and are beginning to win laurels, unless untold happens in the near future, I see them winning more laurels,” he stressed.
He called on the government and other
kind hearted individuals to throw their weight behind the beautiful game, affirming that it helps engage youths and stimulate their mind.
“Obasanjo once said that even if you are good at eating Eba, you should be celebrated, because a champion in eating Eba is a champion, in the same way champions in scrabble which even an art that is more intelligent than eating Eba should also be celebrated in a big way. Once people start recognising the impact of Nigerian scrabble in the whole world, I think there will be a tendency for them to associate with us.
“The government already knows that Nigerian scrabble is, strong, it’s just for them to be able to say, of we are giving ten to football, let’s give one to Scrabble because we don’t need more than one percent of what is being given to Scrabble to thrive, we will do Nigeria more proud than even football does,” he appealed.
The Africa Youth Scrabble Championship (AYSC) is a biennial continental competition for young scrabble enthusiasts, organized by the Pan African Scrabble Association (PANASA), and is scheduled to take place from August 14th to 17th, 2025, at Brighton International School in Syokimau, Machakos County.
The championship will feature two categories: Under 15 and Under 19, with 150 players from 11 countries expected to participate.
