Team Nigeria ready to dominate at 1st West Africa scrabble tourney

Nigeria’s scrabble team has set its sight on dominating at the fist West African Scrabble Championships slated for Accra Ghana from May 14-19.

Nigeria will compete alongside hosts Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Gambia and having established itself among the elite nation in the sport, the Nigerian team which has world number three, Wellington Jighere and Olatunde Oduwole, Nigeria’s top-ranked player, among its brightest medal hopefuls, is poised for a successful outing.

The president of Nigeria Scrabble Federation, Toke Aka said “We have our reputation and pride at stake and we are not underrating other countries hence we had a close camp from which our very best players were selected for the championship.

He, however, appealed for support towards the team as its plan to attend the tournament by air is threatened by shortage of funds.

``We need about N8 million for the championship but as things stand, we are likely to go by road which is very unsuitable. We are hoping to get support even though we have a very short time,” said Ake.

Apart from Jighere, who was a former world champion, in-form Oduwole who sits atop the national ranking as well as the likes of Eta Karo who is the world number four, Emmanuel Umujose and Victor Godwin are expected to shine at the championship.