PwC Nigeria is again bankrolling the National Under-17 Cricket Tournament organised by the Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF) for the third consecutive time. The firm was the official sponsor of the first two editions of the tournament and excitedly anticipates the third edition of the event happening this year.
The tournament is part of the larger grassroots development programme by the NCF, which PwC also supports. The Naija Kids Cricket Accelerated Growth Programme seeks to introduce around 200,000 new kids into the sport annually from all 36 states of the Federation, including the FCT. The main objective is to invest in the future generation of Nigeria by providing them with opportunities that will keep them positively engaged and away from criminal influence or wasted potential.
Edo State will host the elimination series of the tournament in the South-South region, Oyo State will host the South-West, Ebonyi State will host the South-East, Abuja (Federal Capital Territory) will host the North-Central, Kaduna State will host the North-West while Gombe State will host the North-East. The national finals will take place in Abuja.
The tournament started on January 28 and will run through February 20, 2022 with the national finals scheduled to take place from February 15 to 20, 2022.
President of NCF, Uyi Akpata, who is also the Country Senior Partner, PwC Nigeria remarked: “We at PwC Nigeria are extremely proud of all the work we are accomplishing via our Corporate Responsibility sports initiatives. We are delivering sustained outcomes with our involvement in the National U-17 Cricket Championship programme and other programmes such as the Chess4Change initiative, and attending to a big part of our new global strategy, The New Equation.