Aka Charges Adamu to Expand Scrabble Across Africa, Demands Strong PANASA Administrative Structure
Oru Leonard
Former President of the Pan African Scrabble Association (PANASA), Engineer Toke Aka, has challenged the newly elected president, Haruna Adamu, to adopt a proactive approach to developing the game across Africa, stressing the need for stronger national federations, effective administration and a functional secretariat.
Aka, who is also a founding and executive member of the World English Scrabble Players Association (WESPA), said the new PANASA leadership must prioritise direct engagement with national associations, identify their challenges and provide the necessary support to improve participation in continental competitions.
The Managing Director of Kadeggs Nigeria Limited and immediate past president of the Nigeria Scrabble Federation (NSF) noted that expanding the game across the continent would require deliberate planning, sustained communication and practical interventions rather than relying solely on ambitious development programmes.
Congratulating Adamu on his emergence, Aka said the new president must demonstrate the initiative and determination required to move the association forward.
“I wish him well. He is leading, and he must be the one to take the initiative, make inquiries and determine what needs to be done. If he does not take a step, nothing is going to happen. Nobody is going to push him,” he said.
Aka, an alumnus of King’s College, Lagos, and Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, identified inadequate engagement among some national Scrabble administrators as one of the challenges limiting the sport’s development in Africa.
He urged Adamu to build closer relationships with national federations and understand the circumstances affecting their ability to participate in international and continental competitions.
Citing examples from the recently concluded African Scrabble Championship in Monrovia, Liberia, Aka expressed concern over the absence of The Gambia despite its geographical proximity to the host country.
He explained that inquiries revealed that the country’s chairman had sustained an accident about one or two months before the championship, raising concerns about the federation’s ability to organise participation without its key official.
According to him, stronger institutional engagement from PANASA could have helped the Gambian association explore alternative arrangements to ensure its participation.
He also cited Zambia’s difficulty in raising the minimum five players required for national representation, while South Africa reportedly attributed its absence to the high cost of participation.
Aka maintained that these challenges should not be allowed to undermine continental representation, arguing that early planning, proper coordination and administrative support could help address them.
“I don’t see them as problems. I just see them as bad planning,” he stated.
Recalling his own efforts to promote the game across the continent, the former PANASA president disclosed that he travelled to The Gambia in 2006 to encourage the country to participate in the African Scrabble Championship hosted by Nigeria.
He said such personal engagements and sustained development initiatives remained critical to attracting more African countries to the sport.
Aka also called on the new PANASA administration to give special attention to North Africa, which he said had remained largely outside the continent’s organised Scrabble activities for over three decades.
He noted that although the association’s constitution recognises North African representation in its rotational hosting arrangement, the region’s limited participation has continued to create a gap in PANASA’s continental coverage.
According to him, there have been expressions of interest from individuals in some North African countries, including Algeria, but such interest must be supported with proper guidance, institutional partnerships and structured development programmes.
He therefore urged Adamu, who emerged unopposed at the association’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Monrovia, to engage sports administrators and prospective partners in the region to establish the necessary structures for the development of Scrabble.
Beyond expanding participation, Aka emphasised the importance of building a strong and functional PANASA secretariat capable of coordinating the association’s activities and implementing its development agenda.
He argued that the responsibility of continental development should not rest solely on the president, insisting that a dedicated administrative team was necessary to sustain communication with national federations and monitor progress.
“One man can’t do it alone. You need a team. Once your secretariat is up and doing, what do you do for development? You engage, you ask, you talk to people, even in countries where they don’t have Scrabble, and engage the leadership in sports in such countries,” he said.
Aka explained that a properly organised secretariat would enable PANASA to identify the peculiar needs of individual countries and develop appropriate strategies to address their challenges.
He maintained that the association must move beyond organising continental championships to embracing a broader responsibility of establishing, strengthening and sustaining Scrabble structures across Africa.
The former president expressed optimism that with purposeful leadership, effective administration and consistent engagement with national associations, Adamu’s tenure could provide an opportunity to expand the sport’s footprint and improve African representation in international Scrabble competitions.
He urged the new leadership to build on existing achievements while pursuing practical reforms that would make Scrabble more accessible and competitive across the continent.
(Maxwell Kumoye, Spokesperson, NSF, November 1, 2026)
