The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) today 16 March 2023 inaugurated a 15 man Organizing Committee for the conduct of second edition of Africa Military Games slated to hold in Abuja in 2024.
Performing the inauguration ceremony at the DHQ Conference Hall, the Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), General Lucky Irabor represented by the Chief of Defence Training and Operations, Major General Solomon Udounwa remarked that the games will put the nation in spotlight and further enhance unity among participating African nations. He also noted that the games will. impact a robust improvement on the existing military culture, fitness and mental alertness of personnel of the armed forces.
Similarly, the Director of Sports at the , DHQ, Air Vice Marshal Kabiru Aliyu while welcoming the audience to the occasion stated that the African Military Games is aimed at fostering good neighborliness, comradery and promotion of peace and unity among African countries .
The Director of Sports further stated that the spirit that would be evolved through the games will help to end terrorism and other forms of insecurity as well as criminalities that have bedeviled African nations in the recent times.
Also speaking at the occasion, the President of Organisation of Military Sports in Africa (OSMA), Major General Maikano Abdullahi emphasized that the organization believes in the willingness and capabilities of Nigeria to host a successful African Military Games in the year 2024. He expressed his gratitude to the country for accepting to host the upcoming sporting event and called on the organizing committee to ensure a hitch-free conduct of the games.
It could be recalled that the Africa Military Games alternatively known as ‘Jeux Africain Militairies’ is a multi- sporting event for military athletes in Africa established with the objective of promoting friendly sporting and physical training activities among African member states to foster the culture of peace required for economic development and integration of the continent.
The first edition of the games was hosted in 2002 in Nairobi- Kenya, where about 30 countries represented by 1,562 athletes competed in 11 different sporting events
