The Steering Committee of the 5th Federal Education Sector Games (FEDUGAM 2025), scheduled to take place in Lafia, Nasarawa State, has warned that the involvement of mercenaries at the competition will not be tolerated.
The event Consultant, Chief Okeyinka Matt, stated this yesterday at the football draw ceremony, while addressing the press alongside the Deputy Chairman of the FEDUGAM Steering Committee and a Deputy Director from the Federal Ministry of Education, Olapade Suleyman. Okeyinka emphasised that any agency caught using non-bona fide staff at the games would be summarily disqualified from the games.
“What is the essence when you are bringing non-staff to come and compete with members of staff? It does not make any reasonable argument. The idea of the game is to bring the staff together to unwind at the end of the day. So, in specific terms, any agency found infringing on the rules by the Organising Committee would be sanctioned and the persons involved would be reported to their agencies,” Okeyinka warned.
His position was also reinforced by Suleyman, who noted that the engagement of mercenaries would be counter-productive to the set objective of the games, which was to promote interaction and love among the agencies and the Ministry of Education.
He warned agencies against the temptation of circumventing the directive, noting that doing so would be considered a serious offence that would not be taken lightly. Suleyman similarly assured that resources for organising the games had been allocated by the Ministry of Education. At the same time, Minister of Education Dr Tunji Alausa has personally signed a strongly worded letter to all ministry agencies to ensure full participation. “It has never happened. The highest used to be the Director of Human Resources signing, but this time to show some commitment and level of commitment, which has been done,” Suleyman said.
