The inaugural edition of the Maritime Golf Challenge held last Thursday at the Ikoyi Golf Club. DURO IKHAZUAGBEreports….

Thursday, September 25, 2025 is World’s Maritime Day. Here in Nigeria, the body saddled with regulating maritime activities, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) kicked off the celebration last Thursday in Lagos at the Ikoyi Club. NIMASA pulled out stakeholders in the maritime sector to the Golf Section of the foremost club in the commercial capital of the country for the maiden edition of the Nigeria Maritime Golf Challenge (NMGC). It was a perfect opportunity for those in the maritime sector to network while playing golf.

With the theme: “Our Ocean, Our Obligation, Our Opportunity,” the golf challenge presented another window to showcase Nigeria’s maritime industry through sport.

As was expected of any event associated with the maritime sector, the day kicked off with torrential downpour right from the early hours on the Lagos Island. While a part of Lagos did not witness any form of rain, parts of Ikoyi got flooded. There were fears that all the plans to have a smooth golf kitty may not go as planned. The tee-off planned for 8:00am had to be moved forward by two hours. And then, the drizzle stopped. Top executives of the maritime sector and some guest players numbering over 80 players  that had gathered in the Club House moved to the Tee-Box few minutes past 10am to kick off the golf challenge. The rains obeyed the supplications of a few of the players who prayed for the event to hold as planned. After weeks of planning, it would have been sad for the golf challenge not to hold.

And so began the quests by the guest players from the maritime sector to challenge for the trophies at stake in the seven competitive categories namely: Longest Drive (All participants), Nearest to Pin (Male and Female), Female Winners (Winner and 1st Runner-up), Veterans Category (Winner, Runner-up, and 2nd Runner-up), General Category Winner Nett (Winner, 1st Runner-up, and 2nd Runner-up), Maritime Category Winner (Winner, 1st Runner-up, and 2nd Runner-up), and Overall Best Gross.

According to the organisers of the golf challenge, winners of all the competitive categories received trophies with cash prizes.

The tournament structure accommodated golfers of various skill levels and ensured broad participation from both maritime industry professionals and the wider golfing community.

It featured guest appearances from top executives and management of Nigeria’s leading maritime agencies, including representatives from the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and the Nigerian Shippers’ Council.

Speaking after returning to the Club House from the course that wet afternoon, Director of Administration and Human Resources, Dr Isichei Osamgbi told THISDAY that the idea behind the golf challenge was to create a social network, away from the hustle and bustle of daily life in the maritime business.

“This is the maiden edition of the Maritime Golf Challenge. We planned it in such a way to allow most members from the maritime sector to participate in it. It is meant to celebrate the World Maritime Day which is September 25, 2025. With the support of others in the maritime sector like the Shippers Council, NTA, Avalon Intercontinental Ltd, Qubes Media, Asfa Group, Bricks Ltd, THISDAY Newspaper, Tven Communications, Aqua Dana Water, TVC Entertainment, Ocean Sands, Rising Golfers and we in NIMASA, the maiden edition of the Golf Challenge has become a reality for us to network and we hope that it becomes a yearly event,” observed the NIMASA Admin and HR Director.

Dr Osamgbi is particularly grateful to President Bola Tinubu for bringing  the blue economy to the consciousness of Nigerians. “Most importantly, we want to thank Mr President, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu for bringing the consciousness of the blue economy to us in Nigeria. By creating the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, it brought it to our consciousness that there’s a lot to harness from our  huge maritime  resources.  And I can tell you that from records there’s no great nation anywhere in the world that is not a maritime nation.  So, we have really not been able to harness that potential  and that consciousness. So for a golf tournament like this, we can network with others in the sector to create a synergy to move the marine sector forward. So we in NIMASA have keyed into the dream.”

He insisted that the tournament represents a strategic initiative to project the Nigerian maritime industry onto both global and sporting stages as a key sector in the nation’s economic development.

Asked why golf and not any other sport, Dr Osamgbi stressed that the value in golf and the network opportunities it creates are timeless.

“We are into sports to say, hey, every maritime worker, every maritime stakeholder,  everybody in the industry, let’s come together to  see how we can create more awareness  through sports.”  Golf, for us,  is a game  that brings people  of  great minds together. Top professionals, captains of industries and so on.  Where else if not golf?  There’s a great nexus between maritime  and  golf.  They share the same values and perspective of life. If you saw the messages we put out in the fairway, you will understand how that  play out.  We want cleaner ocean, we want things to happen. This is part of the message that we are putting out there for all to key into.

He hinted that instead of the 72 players that were earmarked initially to play in this edition, they ended up having more entries.

“We thought we could just have like 72 golfers but we ended up having over 100 playing here today,” concludes the NIMASA director.

Interestingly, the overall winner of this inaugural edition was a royal father, HRM, Oba Ademola Stephen Kayode Makinde, the Onigemo 1 of Owa Igbajo in Osun State. Oba Makinde is a consummate golfer who before his ascension to the throne was formerly a finance director at the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and officially received his staff of office in March 2024. Oba Makinde who played with handicap 13 won with 81-gross.

Other winners include; Maritime David Adeniran who came first in the Net Category with a net score of 68 while former Club Captain, Frank Gboneme came second, carding 73-net score. Abiodun Adeoye with score of 77-net duck in the third position..

Araoluwa Popoola won the Guest Category followed by Elias Abdul with Ruxi Huang completing the top three of that category. B.A. Raji won the Maritime Veteran Net while J.B. Mohammed was the runner up.

Aniete Udo won the Nearest to the Pin Hole 11 while  Ladies Longest  Drive Hole 11 award went to Pat Ozoemene. Men’s Longest Drive Hole 9 award went to Moses Jemuel.

Ladies Net winner was Timi Roland while Eby Moses Madu was runner up.

Oba Makinde in his remarks, commended NIMASA, Shippers Council

and all the other supporters of Maritime Golf Challenge tournament, stressing that it created opportunities to network.

“One beautiful thing about this game of golf is the fact that the cream of the society that you are looking out for, they are readily available here. We are talking of  Captains of industries, traditional rulers and military top brass all of them and top civil servants are all here.

He stressed that the health benefits of playing golf far outweighs all other considerations.

“We still have a lot of papas here that are over 80, some are 85 years that still play golf.  I have an uncle that lives in Magodo, (Lagos)  and  well over 85 now and he plays twice every week.  And initially, well, I used to believe that golf was equally expensive, but when compared with other sport like polo, it is not. The health benefits are greater that any other consideration,” concludes the royal father.

The one-day tournament was rounded up with a dinner for all the players and guests that thronged the club. A former President of Ikoyi Club, Tafa Zibiri-Aliu and Managing Director of THISDAY Newspapers, Mr Eniola Bello, were amongst distinguished personalities that presented trophies and prices to winners and runners up at the closing ceremony. 

Most of the golfers that spoke about the tournament were all full of appreciations to NIMASA and all other stakeholders that  made the Maritime Golf Challenge possible and and are looking forward to the second edition next year.

The post Maritime Challenge on the Fairway of Ikoyi Golf Club appeared first on THISDAYLIVE.