Abuja – The National Sports Commission (NSC), said in Abuja that it would budget N3.3 billion for the country’s preparations and participation at the 10th All-Africa Games.

The NSC Chairman and Sports Minister, Prof. Taoheed Adedoja, told newsmen that the amount would cover the athletes’ camping at eight venues beginning from Feb. 15.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the games, which was last held in Algeria in 2007, is scheduled for Sept. 3 to Sept. 18 in Maputo, Mozambique.

Adedoja said the amount would also cover the eventual participation at the games of 780 athletes and officials in 23 sports, including swimming, rowing, yachting and canoeing.

He listed the other sports to include athletics, badminton, table-tennis, gymnastics, taekwondo, weightlifting, basketball, boxing, chess, cycling, football, handball, shooting, volleyball and judo.

“Our primary objective is to dethrone Egypt and South Africa at the top of African sports, and we want to do this by winning at least 95 per cent of the gold medals at the games.

“Towards ensuring a successful outing, the NSC has categorised the various sports into Categories A, B and C for easier management.

“While some of the sports may be new or foreign to many of us here, we are however confident that we will win at least a bronze medal each in these events,” the minister said.

He said the first phase of preparations would begin with the local camping exercise on Feb. 15 at Kaduna, Lagos, Abuja, Sagamu, Calabar, Ibadan, Ijebu-Ode and Asaba.

The NSC chairman also listed the 17th National Sports Festival (NSF) which recently suffered another postponement as another avenue to finetune the athletes’ preparation for the continental games.

“We will also use the NSF, which is billed to take place between July and August in Port Harcourt, to take another look at the athletes in preparation for Maputo,” he said.

Adedoja however lamented the present state of decay of the country’s sports infrastructure, singling out the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium in Ibadan and the National Stadium in Lagos as examples.

“These facilities and many others need total rehabilitation. Without them, we cannot win laurels in future international meets..

“These facilities are part of the nation’s legacy and they are supposed to be kept for posterity,” he said.
Courtesy NAN.