By Solomon Nwoke
Traffic congestion in the Port Harcout metropolis has made movement for athletes and officials  at the on-going 17th National Sports Festival cumbersome.

The situation has taken   toll on all stake holders of the festival as athletes , official and journalists alike are having a hectic time moving around venues for  events.

The constant traffic jams have turned the Games here into a nightmare.

On Thursday, wrestlers from Ebonyi State pleaded with organisers to look into the possibility of arranging accommodation for them around the civic centre as travelling from the University of  Port-Harcourt which serves as the Games Village to the venue leaves them stuck in traffic for several hours.

On the same day, Lagos athletes and officials were seen running from pillar to post to catch up with their events at the civic centre. They still arrived late for their event.

They complained to no end about the traffic situation but were grateful that they were not walked over.
The complaints have been the same for other states as well as media men who are here in Port-Harcourt to cover the Games. The shuttle buses are there at the Hotel Presendential but journalists don’t have the time to wait as there are different interests.

Vetran photo journalist, John Ebhota of The Nation Newspapers described the Games as his worst ever having covered so many editions in the past. “I can’t imagine why the organisation is like this. In fact, this is the worst Games I’ve covered so far. I think there is need for them to streamline things for a better organisation.

“It’s unfortunate that only hours to the opening ceremony, many of us don’t have accreditation while some have as many as three. The centres are scattered around Port-Harcourt and it’s difficult going around them.

Meanwhile, the opening ceremony last night may have been grand but the over 200 media men on ground had to cover the event from the stands just like every other spectator.

The reason for this was that there was no media tribune for the gentlemen of the media and a section of the stands was cordoned off  to enable them do their job.