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The International Cricket Council (ICC) Africa has announced Nigeria as the regional winner of the Cricket Initiative of the Year 2023.

The PwC Under-17 Cricket Championship, which has been the rallying point for Nigeria’s developmental initiative, won the award for the Uyi Akpata-led Nigeria Cricket Federation.

According to the ICC statement on the project, “The ICC Development Initiative of the Year award recognises the outstanding development initiative delivered during the year and regional winners include Nigeria Cricket Federation, whose Under-17 Cricket Championship continues to provide competitive playing opportunities for boys and girls across the country.”

In his reaction to the award, President of the Nigeria Cricket Federated, Uyi Akpata, said the Award couldn’t have come at a better time. 

“This is an award that celebrates the power of collaboration. PwC and several partners took a gamble on us and backed our developmental initiatives. It is gladdening that, it is yielding results on a global dimension,” observed the NCF Chief.

In recent years, Nigeria have been winner of “Cricket 4 Good Social Impact Initiative of the Year” for the developmental activities of the federation at the IDP camp in Edo State and the 100% Female Cricket Initiative of the Year for the massive girl-child enrolment initiative in Zamfara State.

The Nigerian women’s team have been on a steady rise, climbing  from 39th on the global ranking to 26th in four years. This progress culminated in the country winning the Bronze medal  at the African Games a few weeks ago in Ghana.

“It has been encouraging to know that the ICC has been keeping tabs and particularly recognising the efforts of our team of passionate cricket development officers and the Board of the Federation. This will only spur us to go further.”

Sam Abu, Country Senior Partner at PwC Nigeria, sponsors of the U17 Cricket tournament said the development confirms the potential they had seen and the belief that Cricket can galvanize, empower and equip the youths of Nigeria for global impact.

“This global recognition for our joint initiative with the Nigeria Cricket Federation is one we are proud of, especially for the fact that it confirms that the game has the potential to galvanise, empower and equip the youths for global impact,” he concluded.

Sierra Leone and Namibia are also associate nations that won regional honours for the year in review by the International Cricket Council.