Tournament favourites Nigeria got their 2016 African Nations Championship campaign off to a winning start as they beat Niger 4-1 at the Stade Regional Nyamirambo in Kigali, Rwanda, on Monday thanks to a second-half hat-trick from Chisom Chikatara.
Osas Okoro opened the scoring for Nigeria at the start of the second half before substitute Chikatara doubled their lead. Adebayor Zakari, also a second-half sub, pulled one back for Niger, but Chikatara fired home twice more late on make sure of the result.
For much of the contest, both sides lacked any real cutting edge and sent a number of chances begging, but the game exploded into an end-to-end affair in the later stages.