By Sodiq Mojibola, Olabisi Sulaiman, & Maryam Bakare
The University of Lagos (UNILAG) came alive on Tuesday as students with visual, hearing and physical disabilities took part in a lively sports fiesta to mark the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. On the tracks and in the indoor arenas, they ran, raced, lifted and played with confidence, showing that their abilities are far greater than the challenges they face.
Organised by the National Association of Nigerian Visually Impaired Students (NANVIS), the event brought together young athletes from UNILAG, Lagos State University (LASU) and special schools across Lagos, turning the day into a celebration of talent, teamwork and inclusion.
Athletes from UNILAG, LASU and special schools across Lagos competed across several categories. A thrilling blind football match between NANVIS UNILAG and Kappa Vocational Training Centre for the Blind, Oshodi, ended 4–4 before going to penalties, where Oshodi clinched a 5–4 victory.
NANVIS President, Ajani Victor, described the fiesta as both a celebration of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities and a prelude to the association’s 20th anniversary.
“To mark the International Day for Persons with Disabilities, we decided to bring everyone with a disability together in a sports fiesta to celebrate the day and make it memorable. There is ability in disability,” he stressed, acknowledging support from the Vice-Chancellor of UNILAG, the Office of the Dean and other individuals who provided facilities free of charge.
Corporate support and inclusion efforts
Sterling Financial Holdings, The Alternative Bank, UNILAG and several partners supported the NANVIS sports fiesta. The association has 80 to 90 members and represents a wider community of hearing-impaired, visually impaired, partially sighted, physically challenged and wheelchair-using students.
Sterling Financial Holdings’ Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Coordinator, Maria Akinsanya, said the organisation was proud to partner with NANVIS UNILAG for the second time and promised continued support.
Speaking to DevReporting, Mrs Akinsanya explained that the financial institution also runs a disability-focused programme, Sterling Embrace, which offers financial support, mentorship and career development opportunities.
“We currently have about 22 beneficiaries, and they are very keen on learning. We want to scale this for the larger economy,” she said.
From vision loss to leadership
Among the participants was someone who understood the importance of visibility and inclusion more deeply. Oluwabunkumi Lebile was a secondary school teenager in 2013 when a dull ache behind his eyes first appeared. Like many Nigerians, he treated it with Paracetamol and assumed it was stress. What he did not realise was that the discomfort was an early warning from glaucoma, a silent disease already attacking his optic nerves.
By the time he arrived at Lagos Island General Hospital, the diagnosis was crushing. The glaucoma had advanced beyond reversal. He lived with partial vision for two more years before losing it completely in 2015. With the darkness came a new reality he never imagined navigating so early in life.
A decade later, Mr Lebile stood in a different spotlight, this time as secretary of the NANVIS Sports Fiesta Planning Committee. The same event that celebrates ability over disability is one he now helps organise, coordinating a multi-disability sporting competition that showcases the talent, resilience and competitiveness of persons with disabilities.
The fiesta, hosted by the NANVIS UNILAG chapter, brought together visually impaired, deaf and physically challenged athletes from several institutions to mark the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. Participants competed in wheelchair races, sprints, indoor games, powerlifting and Blind Football, drawing the loudest cheers of the day.
“What we are doing today is an awareness programme to showcase the ability in people with disabilities,” Mr Lebile said, listing activities ranging from deaf and blind races to wheelchair competitions and indoor games. Blind football, the headline event, held the crowd spellbound.
Behind Mr Lebile’s calm leadership lies a long journey of adjustment and resilience, as his family remains his strongest support system. He told DevReporting that a benefactor has funded his tuition for the past two years; adding that UNILAG’s disability-inclusive admission process, which includes a dedicated desk for visually impaired applicants, has given him a sense of belonging.
In spite of the support, daily challenges persist, from navigating campus mobility to dealing with erratic electricity that complicates routine tasks such as cooking with the electric stoves required in hostels.
He further noted that his academic pursuit also demands extra effort as he struggles to source textbooks, find someone to scan them, and convert them into audio formats before he can study. Still, he continues to advocate for greater awareness and early eye screening.
“These days, when I hear people complain of headaches, I tell them not to just take Paracetamol. It might be something more dangerous,” he said.
From childhood illness to sporting triumph
Mr Lebile’s experience is one of many marked by gradual vision loss. Another athlete, Oluwafunmilayo Olasunkanmi, fondly called Coach Funmi embodies a journey of confusion, delay and eventual triumph. Before becoming a coach, sprinter, medallist and mentor, she battled measles as a child.
Coach Olasunkanmi Oluwafunmilayo, Vocational Training Centre OshodiShe was only four when the illness struck. Although she recovered, her vision never fully returned. Her parents hesitated to seek surgical treatment, fearing total blindness. When she finally underwent surgery in 2006 at age 10, doctors found cataracts. Intervention had come too late to save her sight. “I bless God for my life,” she said with a smile.
Ms Olasunkanmi began her athletic career in 2013, despite coaches doubting whether an adult-aged newcomer could excel. She stepped onto the track anyway and her first outing at the Teslim Balogun Stadium earned her two silver medals in the 100m and 200m race.
Weeks later, she received an unexpected call requesting her international passport and a few days later, she got a newly issued passport, paid for by her coaches.
Her first international trip was to Dubai in 2014, where she won two bronze medals. She later claimed gold at the Ibile Games and the National Sports Festival in Abuja in 2018. After childbirth in 2020 and missing the 2021 festival, she returned to win silver in Asaba, a testament to her resilience.
Today, she trains visually impaired footballers, often improvising equipment. “What you have been doing before will always remain with you, no matter the challenges,” she said.
A life reframed by childhood injection
For Aremu Mubarak, a master’s student at UNILAG, disability began after a routine injection at age two. Paralysis followed, confining him to a wheelchair but in 2019, he discovered racing at Surulere Stadium and has since competed in several events, including the Access Bank Lagos Marathon.
He explained that mobility costs and a lack of equipment remain obstacles, but noted that an electronic wheelchair, which he received from the UNILAG vice chancellor through philanthropist Funmi Ayinke transformed his independence.
At the NANVIS fiesta, he won the wheelchair race, a victory he hopes will remind others not to give up. “Whatever you want to achieve, you will,” he said.
Calls for support and visibility
Among the spectators at the fiesta were special needs educators, including Mary Olaoye of Wesley School 1 for the Hearing Impaired, Surulere. She emphasised the importance of honouring persons with disabilities on 3 December and urged parents not to hide their children with special needs.
“They have a right to education, health and security,” she said, noting that her pupils participated in both junior and senior races.
Visually impaired sportsman, Sunday Oladele, who lost his sight in 2010, called for more support for blind sports, listing disciplines where visually impaired athletes excel including powerlifting, judo, shot put, javelin and blind football.
A UNILAG student present at the fiesta echoed, “They are social people. Give them something to do and you will see them do it well.”
