Adewunmi Ogunsanya, has assured that the state’s contingent to the 17th National Sports Festival was ready to rise above impediments to achieve their set objectives.

Ogunsanya said in Port Harcourt that the contingent had put the problem of going through the “harrowing experience” of having to sleep outside on arrival behind it.

Not less than 480 members of the 590-man Lagos contingent of athletes and officials to the Games were stranded on arrival on Monday night.

They had to stay outdoors immediately after arrival in Port Harcourt as a result of accommodation problems.

“It was a bad experience for us, because having to sleep outside after a long journey is no easy thing at all but we will get over this.

“I must agree that it is psychologically negative for us, having to sleep on the roads and outside the rooms.
“But we have put it behind us, and we are ready to move on from there,” the Director said.

He, however, praised members of the contingent for their maturity throughout the period of their ordeal at the Games Village located at the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) main campus.

“I am happy with our officials and athletes, and I can say this is all because we are here with a crop of gentle and well-behaved men and women who created no problems or pandemonium.”

“They just decided to make do with what they had and that is also because they know what we are here for— to be among the best and if possible, top the medals table,” Ogunsanya said.

He said those expected to help them simply refused to come to their aid, in spite of the intervention of the host Director of Sports and the Secretary of the Main Organising Committee (MOC).

“We learnt that the UNIPORT Dean of Student Affairs was to provide us with what we needed, but he simply refused to come, saying he could not come back to the Games Village,” he alleged.

Ogunsanya, however, said the Rivers Director of Sports, Harry Daobu and the Secretary of the MOC, Alhaji Abba Yola, tried all they could to help assist them.

“Both of them (Daobu and Yola) tried all they could and really apologised to us. In fact, Yola also apologised to us on Tuesday afternoon when we met,” he said.

Ogunsanya, however, said the inability of the host officials to provide the delegation with accommodation on arrival was understandable.

“I suspect no foul play in the incident on the part of the hosts or any other group and I think it is just the normal and general problem that is always noticeable at events of this nature.

“But the standard procedure is for each state’s name to be attached to halls based on the advance information on their number of athletes and officials, which had been given to both the MOC and the LOC.

“In fact, this kind of situation should not have arisen if all efforts had been made.

“This is why we sent in an advance party on Saturday but we learnt they could not do anything as the Games Village only opened on Monday,” he said.

The Lagos team had arrived after 11 p.m. on Monday at the Games Village.

The team had discovered that no mattresses and rooms had been allocated to the state, while all efforts they made through contacts with the host and Games officials yielded no fruits.

An estimated 18,000 athletes and officials from 36 states of the federation and the FCT are being expected to participate in the Games which end on July 10.