NATIONAL SPORTS FESTIVAL BEGINS TODAY

NATIONAL SPORTS FESTIVAL BEGINS TODAY

After six years of absence, the much anticipated 19th National Sports Festival tagged ‘Abuja 2018’ will officially begin in Abuja today, but this is without uncertainty as most of the designated venues for the fiesta are not ready.

The Torch of Unity is expected to be received at the Abuja City Gate by Minister of Youths and Sports Development, Barrister Solomon Dalung, and his counterpart, the FCT Minister, Mallam Muhammad Musa Bello, before the official commencement later in the evening.

The Festival initially awarded to Cross Rivers State has suffered series of postponements before it was later awarded to FCT.

Stakeholders were unsure if the Festival would make a comeback with Abuja as the host city due to the late release of funds by the federal government.

Precisely, on Thursday, March 28, 2018, Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung, inaugurated the Main Organising Committee (MOC) to ensure a flawless delivery of the games”

Similarly, in a recent interview, the director in charge of planning and Secretary of the Main Organising Committee, MOC, Mrs Hauwa Akinyemi, said the venues for the Festival would be in good shape before the kickoff.

Similarly, in a chat with the Group Managing Director of Greenfield Assets, Dr. Paul Obanua, he said his organization was doing everything possible to host a successful national sports festival in line with international best practices.

He acknowledged that proper branding, marketing and media hype was key to developing sports in Nigeria in comparison to the English Premier League.

During a pre-scientific congress held in Abuja on Monday, Dalung said the budgetary allocation for the Festival was released on that day.

Media aide to the sports minister, Nneka Ikem Anibeze, quoted the LOC chairman, Gambo Ahmad as saying that following the release of funds by the Federal Government, renovation works on selected facilities have begun with the deadline of 5th December, 2018 already set for contractors handling the projects.

Gambo, who doubles as the Director of Facilities in the sports ministry, said priority has been placed on the athletics tracks, Indoor Sports Halls located at Package B of the National Stadium and the open courts for basketball, handball and volleyball.

Since work started on Friday, Gambo said progress has been made and the committee is hopeful that the facilities will be ready before the opening ceremony today December 6, 2018.

However, checks revealed that most of the facilities at the Abuja National Stadium, the venue for the event were not ready as at the time of this report.

At the Indoor Sports Hall, Package B, one of the locker rooms was water-logged, though it was being repainted and cleaned up.

The Air Conditioner in the VIP section of the hall was yet to be repaired as at the time our reporter visited on Wednesday.

At the swimming section, it was observed that work was ongoing on two of the swimming pools, while one was yet to be attended to.

The tracks at the main bowl of the stadium where the opening ceremony is scheduled for today, the tracks, the long and high jump venues were yet to be fully ready.

However, the para-soccer stadium, volleyball halls and velodrome have been fixed and ready for use by the athletes.

It will be stated that a total of 8,259 delegates from the 35 states of the federation and the FCT will be expected in town and will be accommodated at the 5 designated games villages.

The delegates will be accommodated at the University of Abuja, NYSC Camp in Kubwa, Regina Pacis College Garki, Government Science Secondary School, Maitama; and Government Girls Secondary School, Dutse.

Meanwhile, FCT Minister, Muhammad Musa Bello, has said that the FCT Administration will use the opportunity of the sports festival to put Abuja on the global map of sports tourism in order to attract investment and economic development.