As parts of concerted efforts to promote the popularity of the game of golf in Niger State, Ambassador John Gana has donated two sets of solar floodlights to the Federal University of Technology, Minna Golf Club, Bestchoicesports.com.ng reports

The brief presentation ceremony took place on Sunday, June 28, 2020 during a special golf kitty organized for members of the Golf Club born in the month of June.

The session was held at the Club’s Golf Course at the FUT, Minna Main Campus, Gidan Kwano.

Speaking before presenting the items, Ambassador Gana, who is also a member of the FUT, Minna Golf Club Board of Trustees, disclosed that he was motivated to make the donation to the Club because of his passion and love for the game of golf, adding that the donation would go a long way in lighting up the environment of the golf course at night during games.

“FUT, Minna Golf Course has saved my life for the last three months of the nationwide lockdown occasioned by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Without playing golf for such period, I do not know what my life would have become. I am enjoying the University golf course and whenever you are enjoying something, you must contribute to its development. Above all, golf is not just any game. Golf is life,” Amb. Gana disclosed.

Further, he expressed optimism that the course would become an academy where students and kids will come to learn how to play the game and graduate from being amateurs to professionals, just as it is being done in other climes.

He urged the University Management to continue to support the Club in the maintenance of the green surface of the course and the tee boxes, while expressing hope that the course would be expanded to a full-fledged one that would be used for amateur or professional tours.

Responding, the Captain of the University Golf Club, Prof. Akim Osunde expressed appreciation to Ambassador Gana for always supporting the Club, saying that the donation of the floodlights would further boost the profile of the game in the University and Niger State at large.

Prof. Osunde, who was represented by the Vice-Captain of the Club Prof. Segun Oyero stated that the University Golf Club has benefited immensely from the support of Ambassador Gana since he started playing golf on the golf course, ranging from donation of golf balls, sometimes footing the bills for the maintenance of the course and encouraging some of the highly talented golfers to turn professional.

Prof. Osunde, who was the former Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) of the University, commended Ambassador Gana for showing leadership and for his act of magnanimity, while assuring him that the items would be judiciously utilized.

The don of Soil Science appealed to other generous-spirited individuals and organizations to emulate Ambassador Gana’s gesture by coming to the aid of the FUT, Minna Golf Club, especially towards making its course the best in the state and the country at large.

It would be recalled that the University Golf Course was constructed and inaugurated in 2007 during the tenure of Prof. Hamman Tukur Sa’ad, abandoned since 2012 but resuscitated in 2018 by the present Vice-Chancellor of the University, Prof. Abdullahi Bala, fsssn.

By Ugboaja, Stanley
Media Officer, FUTMinna Golf Club