Wheelchair American Football promotes inclusion in Nigeria

Nigeria will stage its maiden Wheelchair American Football exhibition on Thursday, as organisers seek to promote inclusion and create opportunities for athletes with disabilities in the sport.

The exhibition, organised by American Football Elite Development, will hold at the National Institute for Sports, National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, and will feature Lagos Dynamos, Iron Invicta, Liberty Pioneers and Atlantic Chargers in a knockout format, with winners of the semi-finals advancing to the final.

The event follows more than two months of training by the participating athletes and forms part of AFEDEV’s broader plan to establish a structured pathway through which athletes with disabilities can develop their talents and pursue careers in the sport.

Speaking during an orientation for journalists in Lagos, AFEDEV founder, Lawrence Ojaideh, said the decision to begin with wheelchair American football was driven by the need to create opportunities for athletes with disabilities.

“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 is no opportunity to showcase what they have,” Ojaide said.

“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 because there is room for them to make a better life, not only in a sport that tends to be one of the richest sports in the world, but also in a country where this has never happened before,” he added.

The Executive Director of AFEDEV, Nina Agwuna, said the organisation was seeking partnerships to give overlooked athletes an opportunity to develop their talents.

“We are looking forward to synergising; we are 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,” she said.

Beyond Thursday’s exhibition, AFEDEV said it has broader plans to develop American football in Nigeria, including a structured wheelchair league, an academy, and a tackle football programme for able-bodied athletes.

The organisation also plans to introduce the Elite Athlete Identification and Development System, a software platform to manage player data from identification and development through to drafting.

Board member Josiah Orie said the tackle football project would focus on technical development, international competitiveness and player safety, noting that the system would help identify and track players from grassroots level to professional standard.

Corporate sponsorship, international partnerships, broadcast opportunities, match-day engagements and merchandise development have been identified as potential revenue sources, with proceeds to be reinvested in facilities, equipment and athlete development.