By Ben Efe

As the 2013 All Nigeria/Cross River Athletics Championships trickle down to seconds and minutes, Cross River commissioner for sports, Patrick Ugbe has reiterated the need for athletics officials to ensure clock efficiency, when the event begins on June 19.

Nigerian officials have a penchant for making athletics a boring spectacle, even as the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, AFN is striving to cut down on such encumbrances.

“We are looking forward to an exciting championships. We want a flawless organization better than what we have been seeing before and we have asked the AFN to raise the bar.

We are in constant touch with the president, Solomon Ogba and we have agreed on certain novel ideas, which we will unfold during the championships,” said Mr. Ugbe.

The AFN confirmed June 19-23 for this year’s championship, which will be a selection trial for the World Championships billed for Russia, Moscow in August. The Cross River State government is sponsoring the championships for the third year running after oil giants, Mobil withdrew.

Meanwhile Cross River grassroots athletics development coordinator, Dr. Bruce Ijirigho stated that Cross River athletes will strive to dominate the event with their enterprising pool of young athletes.

“We have a group of young athletes whom we are looking forward to seeing perform at the Championships.

There are the likes of Patience Okon, who has the fastest time in the 400m in Nigeria this year, Ishmael Sadjo in the long distance and some juniors we expect to put up good performances. Some of them are currently in the national junior camp in Port Harcourt,”he said.