Determined to help Nigerian youths build enterprising skills at an early stage, 9Mobile, a youth-centric telecom company, said it is perfecting plans to begin a game tour of different Nigerian campuses in 2024.
Speaking at the Player9 Tournament organised by 9mobile and Gamr Africa in Lagos recently, Ufuoma Dogun, manager of events and sponsorship at 9mobile, said that there are Nigerian students who are interested in gaming but do not have the opportunity to participate in the tournament.
According to him, the idea of the planned campus game tour was to create a platform that would enable the students to engage with their passion in online gaming activities.
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He however said building a gaming culture is one of the ways to strengthen enterprising skills among Nigerian youths and that the tournament was one of 9mobile’s flagship initiatives.
According to him, the gaming industry is growing in Nigeria and the enterprising youths are the main participants in that industry.
Dogun said the aim was to create a unique and exotic online gaming experience for gamers on the 9mobile network.
“Our collaboration with Gamr Africa is in furtherance of our commitment to the youth segment of our customers and complements our other youth-centric initiatives such as ‘The Hack,” he said.
Pointing out that plans are on to take the gaming event to various campuses across the nation, Dogun said that integrating the power of the 9mobile network with that of Gamr helped in creating lasting memories and connections for the gaming community.
To participate in the games, gamers were asked to register online and onsite using the 9mobile-GAMR platform. Following this, the event kicked off with a knockout round of 32 gamers, with 16 of them advancing to the next round. Eight of the gamers later advanced to the quarterfinals, and four made it to the semifinals, while the last two proceeded to the final. Each of the gamers had a playing time of six minutes to surmount the challenge and move to the next round.
At the end of the tournament, Valentine Okoye emerged as the winner, carting home a brand new PS5 game console, a new Samsung Galaxy Phone and a free 15 Gigabyte data bundle. The first and second runner-up went home with Samsung Phones with 11 Gigabyte data bundles each. Other participating gamers, supporters, and attendees who came out tops in question-and-answer sessions were gifted with phones and free data.
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Expressing his joy, Valentine Okoye, winner of the tournament said he was excited because he desperately wanted a PS5.
“I’m a top player and I stood a chance. I was a player that only played with my brother, a parlour champion kind. So, I just came here with the mindset of ‘no pressure, just have fun, and luckily; I am the champion. Gaming has given me a lot in terms of experience, networking and most importantly money. I am truly grateful to 9mobile for this opportunity,” he said.
Some of the participants expressed gratitude to 9mobile and Gamr for the opportunity to take their e-gaming skills to a whole new level and promised to try harder and win next time.
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