It was a night of glamour and fun as the country’s biggest sports awards, the Nigerian Awards for Sporting Excellence (NASE), successfully debuted over the weekend in Lagos.

The atmosphere, on Saturday night, at the Osun Hall of Airport Hotel, Ikeja, venue of the event, was like that of a carnival. Sports stakeholders from various parts of the country were entertained by the famous Nigerian Football Supporters Club (NFSC) Band, which dished out its popular tunes from the beginning to the end. The event was expertly hosted by Grandmaster Sunny Okim and On-Air-Personality (OAP) Theresa Moses a.k.a Lady T or Tessy Gold. Comedian MC Prophecee CFR further added to the colour with his rib-cracking jokes.

Among dignitaries from the sporting community that graced the event was the legendary Coach Kashimawo Laloko, former National Coach of Nigeria and Gambia, one-time Technical Director of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and currently Director of the wave-making Pepsi Football Academy. From outside the football community also came a horde of dignitaries, among them Sir Ben Opiah, National President of Knights of Saint Columbus, who stormed the venue with his pretty wife, Lady Joy Opiah.

The event was chaired by sports marketing guru, Mr. Taye Oladimeji Ige, Chairman/CEO of HotSports Network and HS Media Group, a foremost media conglomerate which is currently building the biggest TV production studio in Nigeria.

In his welcome remarks, Chairman of NASE Awards Committee, Prince Isidore Oduah, expressed happiness that such a large crowd of sports stakeholders could sacrifice other important matters to grace the event.

On the essence of the awards, Prince Oduah said: “As the name indicates, the Nigerian Awards for Sporting Excellence is meant to reward Nigerian sportsmen and women, as well as other stakeholders, who excel in any given year. The idea is that by so doing, we would be encouraging them to work even harder for the continued development and growth of Nigerian sports.

“Our view of the sporting community is a broad one. While the sportsmen and women themselves are at the centre of it all, it is our belief that the awards would be incomplete if we do not also recognise and honour the technical men and women, and administrators who make it possible for the athletes to do their stuff. We also believe it would be unfair not to reward the corporate bodies and other stakeholders who provide the much-needed financial and political support for sports to thrive.

“It is for this reason that we can rightfully claim to be Nigeria’s biggest sports awards.”

Prince Oduah commended the organisers, Daily Sports online newspaper and Prime Sage International, as well as the event sponsors, Zenith Sports, Haggai Sports and News Express online newspaper.

In all, 13 awards were given out in different categories.

Update news