GOLDEN LIFT . . . Nigeria's Augustina Nkem Nwaokolo snatches a weight in the Women’s 48kg weightlifting competition during the XIX Commonwealth Games at Jawaharlal Nehru sports complex in New Delhi. Photo: AFP

Nigerian weight-lifting coach, Patrick Bassey has called on the sports minister, Isa Ibrahim Bio to make good his promise to upgrade Nigerian gyms.
Bassey who was speaking at the Jawahal Nehru Stadium, venue of the weightlifting event stated that Nigeria urgently needed to upgrade its gym facilities if the country was to produce world weightlifting champions.

“We have talents in Nigeria, but what we lack is standard gyms. If we have modern equipment in our gyms I do not see how we won’t win medals at the next Olympics.

“I’m glad that the honorable minister was here, he saw the facilities that are in place. I’m only just hoping that at least, we should have modern gym equipment in Abuja and Lagos” said Bassey who was at the Los Angeles Olympics Games in 1984.

On assumption of office, Bio promised to upgrade the Weightlifting gyms especially that of Lagos, which has turned into an eyesore. He described the state of the gym as a national embarrassment and vowed to put it into shape as soon as budgetary allocations of the sports ministry were made available.

But it seems that promise may not come to pass, as the iron bars, barbells, weights and other equipment are still wallowing in rust.