NUGA and BUSINESS

As preparations for the 24th Nigerian University Games, NUGA, went and still goes on in the sporting and infrastructural phases, all was not limited to the two as participants would be in need of commodities such as food, drinks, wears and more things at one point or the other. As expected, many traders would look forward to benefiting  from this rear opportunity.

For the purpose of NUGA, the management of Obafemi Awolowo University has set aside an area of land at the sporting area as makeshift market for interested business men and women to carry out their various activities. But this move, particularly the choice location did not go down well with the registered traders. Their complaint was that the location was too far from the residence of the sport participants.  Speaking with me was a man who identified himself simply as Okani. He said, "I came from Lagos and I've been doing business at several sporting events such as the last NUGA at UNIBEN, National Sport Festival in Lagos, West African University Games, WAUG, at Ilorin and several others. The problem with this place and why we are not happy is because this location is too far from where the sports men and women reside. They will only come to this area during the day when activities are on, but after activities, there will be no one here, so how do we make sales? In other places where we go to, we are usually allotted spaces close to the residential areas." Speaking with a couple of women too who identified themselves as Evelyn Uzo and Ada and claimed to have come from Anambra state, they said that though the trading space is large but obscurity was a major factor.

The opening ceremony for NUGA has been scheduled for Friday 14th, all business preparation are in top gear and some are already feeling disadvantaged even before the beginning. The ingenuity of traders to overcome such challenges is actually worth looking out for. How other businesses located in the halls of residence accommodation the participants plan to utilize the opportunity is a special point of interest. Arms are folded as we watch other dynamics in the relationship between NUGA and its business opportunists.

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