By Uche Onyeali
Elite Global Gold Academy, EGGA, has produced the second batch of global Class A golf Professional from Professionals Golfers Association of South Africa, PGASA.
Chief executive officer of EGGA, Mrs. Uloma Mbuko Ogbuokiri, who disclosed this during a chat with journalists in Abuja at the weekend, during the Thanksgiving and a special celebration of Mark Oseni’s Achievement.
We are thrilled to honor our very own Mark Oseni, who has recently achieved the prestigious A-Class Golf Professional certification.
Mrs Ogbuokiri, popularly known as Lady Pro said: “We educate existing golf professionals and upcoming golfers as to the business angle and profitability of golf industry in Nigeria on a regular basis. We raise the standard to world class”.
She said, Professional Golfers Association Certificate which Oseni acquired is recognised in over 40 countries of the world.
“We have PGA Nigeria, South Africa and over the world. It is a body of Golf Professionals. The standard & recognition is not the same; one is educational standard, in Nigeria it’s one year course while in South Africa where we graduated from, is three years course.
“A year’s programme cannot be compared with that of three or five years programme.
“The knowledge, exposure, experience can never be the same.
“Today we are actually here to welcome the third batch of A Class in Nigeria golf professionals from South Africa”, Ogbuokiri said.
She noted that though the process had not been easy, but expressed gratitude to God for the successful completion of the training by the golfer in South Africa.
Mrs. Ogbuokiri, however, lamented the challenges of golf business in Nigeria, stressing that the free fall of the naira against the dollar had been very challenging.
She disclosed that Mr. Oseni started the programme when a dollar was exchanged for N400 and later jumped up to N800 per dollar.
“Imagine now that he graduated, you should calculate what a dollar is because tuition fees are paid in Rands . It is a challenge because it was over six times of what he was supposed to pay”, she lamented.
In his remark, Oseni, who said the journey was not easy, however thanked God and Dr and Mrs. Ogbuokiri, whom he described as his mentor and godfather, as well as his family members for their contributions to the success of his training.
