By Maxwell Kumoye and Oluwatobiloba Zeal-Adepetu Kumoye
Lekki Scrabble Club chairman, Samuel Anikoh, is confident that the next edition of the Club’s annual championship — The Lekki Scrabble Classics will be better and bigger.
Anikoh gave this assurance in Lagos in an exclusive interview FIRST ZEALMEDIACAST BLOG.
He explained that as a strong formidable team, after the conclusion of this year’s edition won by Ghana’s Charles Haizel Tachie Menson, they will review and analyze the competition and work on improving the subsequent editions.
“Our dream is to always be better and bigger. And so that means it’s reasonable to expect that next year we’ll have a bigger venue, a better venue, and we’ll have higher prizes like we did this year as well.”
Anikoh said, one of the attractions of the Classics is the prize money which has significantly improved with each edition and they hope to go a step higher all things been equal.
“Recall that last year the, top price was 500,000 naira and this year we increased it to 1 million naira. So hopefully we get all the support from our sponsors, which we are very hopeful because they have supported us last year, they have supported us this year and we believe that we are a viable partner for them in showcasing their brand as well.”
We understand the prize pool has raised concerns among players, this will be address in the next edition.
“So we hope that going into next edition in 2025 we can also cater to more people and much better. That’s our dream. I think one of the attractions, like I mentioned earlier, is that when people see the size of the prize, I mean, it makes it more attractive for people.”
SUPPORT AND SPONSORSHIP
“The demand in organizing such a tournament involves a lot of financial commitments, so when we have people like that actually supporting us we are happy.”
“I believe other organizations should support us, it makes it easier, we are hopeful next year, we should be in a position to increase the prize pool, but a lot of that, of course, will depend on our ability to maintain the sponsors that we have and potentially bring on more people to support us.”
The 2024 Lekki Scrabble Classics was proudly supported by LOENSE International Limited an engineering construction, dredging services and marine logistics services and Frontpage Couture a leading fashion house on the continent.
A leading scrabble event organizers, Mind Game Incorporated (MGI), were also part of the competition as well as Elcrest E&P, Ayodele Thomas Consulting, Julyet Peters, Midasfarms, and AGPC.
Mr. Anikoh said Lekki Scrabble Club is profoundly grateful to all the sponsors, suppliers, partners and associates, we are hoping they will all be back again in 2025.
“Just to give you an idea, a lot of Scrabble club members who reside in the diaspora, were actually part of the success story of the tournament this year, flying all the way from the US, Canada and other parts of Europe, UK, Netherlands.”
And in a bid to encourage bigger and richer participants from Nigeria and other parts of the world, the Organizers of the Classics are of the opinion that when the figures aright and carrots are tantalizing the big guns will congregate in Lekki.
“It’s possible to attract the best across the world If we have the right carrots, if we have the right size of the carrot to offer them. So if we are able to get a bigger price for people, they won’t mind flying from all over the world to be a part of it. And that’s what we hope for.”
James Ewruje won the maiden edition of the Classics, Enoch Nwali another home boy took the second edition by storm while Charles Haizel Tachie Menson of Ghana captured the third edition.
The event has also been staged in three different venues.
THE ATTRACTIONS
“To be honest, I think it’s mainly a function of the brand that Lekki has. It’s a known brand and I think the expectation from people is that there is a lot to enjoy when you come to Lekki to be a part of the tournament, and of course, we also have a big prize pool.”
BELIEVE AND STRENGTH
“I think overall, people just also believe in what we would be capable of putting out there and they showed up to be a part of it, so I think that’s what I attribute it to.”
“Going into the next edition, seeing the numbers we had this year, we are actually thinking that we might get as many as 200. So if that is the case, the venue this year will be too small. And so we have to look for somewhere else.”
“Ultimately, like I mentioned, we would like to host as many people as possible. That’s the ultimate objective, but also want to make it a worthwhile experience. So as much as possible, we’ll try and combine both. And that might require us to then have a different venue, a bigger venue. If we are unable to cater to the numbers, then of course we can retain what we have. But our dream is to always be better and bigger.”
HISTORY AND SCRABBLE
“The very famous Godswill Akpabio tournament used to have a very good prize money and prize pool attached to it and so we used to have international players. I think even the great Nigel Richards witnessed one of those. So why not, Lekki Scrabble Club is one of the foremost clubs in Nigeria. So we can also dream big. So for us it’s something that we have already set the tone. And I mean, as a Club we are always pushing to be better than. So we are always setting new goals and new targets.”
LEKKI SCRABBLE CLASSICS NEXT YEAR
“Hopefully next year we can also expect to have diaspora players, especially since it will be leading up to the world championship and it’s a period for Africa to shine on the global stage, so why not? We always like to have a lot of players from the diaspora to be part of the classics.”
Over 4.5 million naira was shared as prize money in this year’s edition of the Lekki Scrabble Classics (LSC24).
HISTORY OF STAR PRIZE MONEY AT THE CLASSICS
2022 – Two hundred thousand naira
2023 – Half a million naira
2024 – One million naira
2025 – ??????????????