Duro Ikhazuagbe 

The organisers of the  annual Nigeria Pitch Awards have concluded plans to reinstate the Top Striker Award category in the 12th edition scheduled to hold in December.

The award category named after the late Super Eagles forward, Rashidi Yekini, is to be presented to the highest goals scorer in the Nigerian Premier Football League (NPFL).

Speaking at a media session yesterday in Lagos, President of the Nigeria Pitch Awards, Dr Sina Phillips, unveiled bold plans for a new annual sports conference that will precede the prestigious awards ceremony.

He explained that the initiative aims to expand the vision of the Pitch Awards beyond the mere recognition of football excellence. 

According to him, the annual sports conference will serve as a platform for renewed national focus on sports, while creating fresh opportunities for administrators, investors and policymakers to collaborate on advancing the sector.

 “We are pleased to announce our annual sports conference,” Phillips said. “This has been in the works for a long time.

“ The conference will attract local and international speakers, providing a unique opportunity to renew and refocus national attention on sports in Nigeria.”

He noted that the journey to the 12th  Edition of the Nigeria Pitch Awards represents resilience, patriotism and dedication among stakeholders since the initiatives Inception in 2012 as he expressed appreciation to the National Sports Commission(NSC), the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), the Nigerian media, the college of voters, all award nominees and winners for their continuous support over the years.

Phillips specifically gave kudos to the SIAO Partners for the credibility that their participation in collating and auditing the votes by stakeholders, leading to the winners of the various categories.

Representative of SIAO Partners at the ceremony, Oluwadare Ojelade, corroborated the Pitch Awards initiator on the quality of work carried out before winners emerge.

“For us at SIAO Partners, it is our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and we give it the best professionalism to ensure winners in the various categories are those with the highest votes by college of voters,” stressed Ojelade.

The 2025 Nigeria Pitch Award is tentatively scheduled to hold on December 22 but may be shifted due to Super Eagles first 2025 AFCON game to hold December 23.