Lagos State is on the verge of making the Guinness Book of World Records via sports having successfully hosted the biggest ever Monopoly tournament.
The competition, tagged: “City of Lagos Monopoly,” was purposely organised by the Lagos State Sports Commission in collaboration with Lagos-based Bestman Games, a sports development outfit.
The aim, the organisers said, was to break the world record of “Most People Playing Monopoly” under one roof in the sport, a feat that was achieved at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere.
The U-17 championship, which had about 1,300 students, overshot the expected number of students that the organisers initially pegged at 1,000.
Thus, the former world record set at the Universal Studio in Singapore where 605 people gathered on March 19, 2016 under the same roof was smashed.
For now, the sponsors, Bestman Games, says it is awaiting the confirmation of the feat by the Guinness Book of World Records for Lagos to, as usual, set yet another pace in excellence.
The Chairman of the Lagos State Sport Commission, Deji Tinubu, stated that many people knew about Monopoly as a game, but they have not really captured it the way Bestman Games had showcased it in Lagos.
Tinubu said that the philosophy behind Monopoly was in line with the vision of the state on sports development, where opportunities were created for every child to engage in one game or another.
Tinubu said: “The government is encouraging sports generally with the active collaboration of the private sector for sportsmen and women to grow.”
The Chief Executive Officer of Bestman Games, Nimi Akinkugbe, said that Monopoly started its journey into Lagos in December 2012.
Akinkugbe said: “It all began when we gathered at the imposing City Hall on Catholic Mission Street, Victoria Island, for the launch of the City of Lagos Edition of Monopoly by the former Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos.
“It was the first African City edition of Hasbro’s World Famous Board Game
and we were deeply proud that the Mega City of Lagos was honoured with that special status.
“Our company, Bestman Games, is the African distributor of customised edition of Monopoly.”
Narrating further, Akinkugbe stated that the number of students that eventually participated in the competition exceeded her expectations.
She said: “What we have here is indescribable, we have witnessed a record set in Lagos and this will go down in the history of the sport.
“We have exceeded our target but we do not want to deny anybody participation.
“So, we have to accommodate everybody until there is no space to contain them.”
As part of the effort to popularise the game, the Lagos State Government approved Monopoly as one of the sports in its schools.
Also, as part of the preparation for the historic tournament, Bestman Games trained about 100 teachers from 100 Lagos schools.
The students that competed in the iconic championships said that it was passion that engendered their participation.
They expressed their gratitude to the organisers for the exposure to the sport, promising that what they had learnt of its numerous benefits, including financial prudence would be part of their lives.
The winner of the grand prize, Eliazabeth Braimoh of Topfield College, Apapa, said that love for the board game spurred her to learn more about it.
Braimoh, played the property value of 11,260 and cash value of 6,354, totalling 17,614 to win N600,000 prize money.
An elated Braimoh, said she was happy to win the epoch championships, adding that it would spur her to take up more challenging games in the future.
Braimoh said: “I want to continue playing Monopoly which I have found very challenging but educating. I thank my teachers who put me through in the game.
“Sometimes, we train for more than four hours with our tutor who explained all what we need to know and today, we have seen the result of our hard work.”
The winner of the first prize, Al-Amin Ojo of Boys Junior School, Lagos Island, said he was in love with the game.
He scored the property value of 5,430, cash value of 8,169, securing a total of 13, 599 to win the N500,000.
Ojo said: “At first I did not understand the game but my tutor will not leave me alone; he always encourages me, saying that I can do it.
“I later developed passion for the game because I was encouraged to do so, I started practicing with my mates and I noticed that they are not up to my level.
“Beating my mates at practice matches actually gave me more confidence and now monopoly is what I want to be playing every day.”
In his word, the coach of Topfield College, winners of the championships, Ifeanyi Osuji, said that the cooperation received from the students’ parents was encouraging.
Osuji said: “The parents are good; I cannot explain the success because we have been training for three months and this is the first time these kids are playing monopoly.
“The training can be tedious sometimes, and many a time we go home at 6 or 7 p.m. but we could not run away from that since we knew what is at stake.
“This is what we did during Lagos carnival where we came first, so, we had to repeat what we did then but not without many challenges with some other parents.
“I will encourage more parents to allow their children to be part of this game because it instils a sense of financial freedom in the
children.”
Osuji thanked the organisers for a well-conceived idea by starting with the younger generation by preparing them for future challenges.
“The organisers have done a wonderful job and I am sure they will do better next year.”
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