My name is Bruce Tajinere Ijirigho, originally from Koko in the Delta State of Nigeria. I have a Ph.D. in Petroleum Geology and Mineral Economics from the University of Arizona. I was Senior Lecturer at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, with over 33 years of experience as an environmental consultant in the USA. I participated in the 1972 Olympic Games, and was Nigeria’s captain to the 1976 Olympic Games held in Montreal, Canada.
Since my days as a young athlete in Nigeria, my heart has always been burdened by the mismanagement of Nigeria’s abundant and talented youths. Therefore, I prayed frequently for God to give me the opportunity to implement a program that will show Nigerians how to find raw talent in the primary and secondary school system and turn them into well-educated international champions. In 1971, Illinois State University recognized my talent in sports and awarded me a full athletic scholarship that brought me to the USA at a young age. Ten years later, I had represented and won laurels for the University at all levels of collegiate competition, and for Nigeria all over the world. Within the same time frame, I completed all requirements and was awarded a Ph.D. in Petroleum Geology. Through this experience, I developed a deep desire to duplicate myself in the youths of Nigeria and show them the pathway from poverty to self-sufficiency and riches through sports and education. This is what caused me to abandon my professional practice in the USA in 2009, and proceed to Cross River State with my passion, experience and determination to change lives.
Kima, Inc was contracted as sports development consultant by the Cross River State Government, from October 2009 to October 2015. As CEO, I designed and directed the implementation of this program. During the six years, over 300,000 youths directly participated in our competitions from all 18 Local Government Areas (LGA) of CRS.
To implement the project, we came to CRS with foreign technical staff (coaches) from USA, Cuba and Jamaica.
The program was a huge success and achieved results never before envisaged for the youths of the state. Within our first two years of operation, CRS became a dominant factor in Nigerian Sports by winning the National School Sports Festival (NSSF) and becoming national champions for the first time in the history of the state. CRS went on to win the NSSF for four consecutive years until the end of this program. This feat and other great program successes catapulted the image of CRS to great heights.
CRS was acknowledged as having the best sports development program in Nigeria. Many athletes from our program represented Nigeria at all levels of international competition and won gold, silver and bronze medals. We enrolled 35 program athletes in Nigerian Universities, sent four to USA universities on full scholarship, and three are in Bahrain today pursuing professional careers in sports and taking care of their extended families at home in CRS. Our passionate pursuit of excellence in sports and education was a huge success. Thanks to Governor Liyel Imoke’s full support, our program was among the most successful during his eight-year tenure.