Prof. Yahaya Ukwenya, President of Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF), on Wednesday attributed the success of the ICC Cricket World Cup Trophy Tour in the country to collective effort.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the trophy arrived the country on Feb. 11 on a three-day tour of Abuja and Lagos.
Ukwenya told NAN in Lagos that the collective effort and contributions of the Cricket board, sponsors and stakeholders in the last 18 months gave birth to the historic milestone.
“Having the Cricket World Cup trophy in the country is a major plus for cricket in Nigeria and this won’t have been possible without our sponsors, stakeholders and the board.
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“It is also a matter of the amount of progress rate we have been able to achieve since inception and we intend to build on that,’’ he said.
The president noted that cricket was the fastest growing sport in the world statistically and urged Nigerians to embrace the sport.
NAN reports that Nigeria, in spite of not being eligible to participate in the World Cup competition in the UK in June, was picked as one of the countries the trophy visited.
Being a historic visit, the trophy will travel across five continents, 21 countries and over 60 cities leading up to the 2019 ICC World Cup finals tournament in Wales and England.
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Nigeria is one of the four African countries to host the trophy, while others are Rwanda, Kenya and South Africa.
For the first time, the ICC World Cup trophy has not only visited countries taking part in the tournament and traditional cricket nations, but also places where cricket is rapidly growing.
The World Cup trophy will depart Nigeria on Wednesday.
NAN
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