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The President of the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), Engr. Habu Gumel, has urged Nigerians to embrace regular physical exercise as a vital step towards healthy living.
Gumel made the call during the 2026 Olympic Day celebration held across the country on Saturday in collaboration with the NOC’s Sports For All Commission.
Represented at the Lagos event by the Chairman of the Sports For All Commission, Dr. Abdul Ibrahim, Gumel delivered a goodwill message from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), stressing the importance of promoting health and wellness through sports.
The celebration, held at the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, formed part of the annual global Olympic Day activities aimed at promoting the Olympic values of excellence, friendship and respect while encouraging people of all ages to participate in physical activities.
The Lagos event, coordinated by the Secretary of the Sports For All Commission, Augustine Odigie, attracted scores of participants who took part in jogging, aerobics, dancing and other recreational activities in a colourful atmosphere.
The programme also featured exciting side attractions, including demonstrations by WBC Muay Thai kickboxers led by coach Chinedu, popularly known as “Koboko”, as well as karate displays, roller skating exhibitions, tug-of-war contests and dance performances.
Certificates of participation were presented to all participants at the end of the event in recognition of their involvement in the Olympic Day celebration.
Dignitaries include the immediate past chairman of Sports For All Commission, Prince Henry Amike, and the Lagos Liaison officer on the National Sports Commission(NSC) , and a strong delegation of Former Female Athletes of Nigeria (AFFAN) among others.
Like Lagos and “We Move” as the theme of the 2026 Headline: D’Tigers Crush Rwanda, Reach World Cup Qualifiers’ Second Round
Nigeria’s D’Tigers produced a commanding display to thrash Rwanda 106-62 and secure a place in the second round of the 2027 FIBA Basketball World Cup African Qualifiers with an impressive 4-2 record.
Needing a convincing victory to improve their point differential, the former African champions delivered in style, recording the biggest winning margin of the Group C campaign in Luanda, Angola.
The emphatic victory saw Nigeria overturn a first-round 1-2 record from November, while improving their point differential from -14 to +30 ahead of the next phase, where qualified teams carry over their points.
Caleb Agada and Ike Iroegbu set the tone early by hitting three-pointers inside the opening minute as Nigeria raced into a commanding lead and eventually stretched the margin to 46 points.
Stan Okoye, who scored 13 points off the bench, revealed that the team was fully aware of the importance of improving its points difference.
“We spoke about it the day before the game. The point differential matters for the next round and the coaches emphasised it a lot,” Okoye said.
The victory completed a perfect outing for Nigeria in Luanda after earlier stunning group leaders Guinea 80-79 and defeating Tunisia 84-81 to finish the second qualifying window unbeaten.
Head coach David Vanterpool praised his players for executing the game plan, particularly on the defensive end.
“Our guys did an incredible job limiting some of their better players from getting the type of looks they normally get. They executed at a high level and stayed together through adversity,” he said.
Okoye described Nigeria’s unbeaten run in Angola as a major confidence booster but insisted the mission was far from over.
“Going home 3-0 feels amazing, but the job is not done,” he said.
The veteran forward added that representing Nigeria remains a dream come true and said the team’s lower ranking served as extra motivation to turn its qualification campaign around.
Nigeria will now join the remaining qualified teams in the second round, with six more qualification games scheduled for August 2026 and March 2027 as the race for places at the 2027 FIBA Basketball World Cup continues. us from the states that took part in the exercise revealed that the attendance was massive when compared with that of 2025 as participants ignored the unfriendly weather to take part in the exercise
