John Egbokhan
5 January 2009
Nigeria's Minister of Sports, Sani Ndanusa has expressed satisfaction with the facilities that Kaduna State is putting in place for the hosting of the National Sports Festival, holding next month, while also reaffirming that there is no going back on the date.
The National Sports Festival, which was originally scheduled to hold last year, suffered several postponements due to the inability of the host state to complete the construction of facilities meant for the fiesta.
With concerns still mounting in some quarters that Kaduna might not be able to meet next month's deadline, Ndanusa, who only last week, formally started work in Abuja, Tuesday, embarked on a tour of facilities in Kaduna.
After touring the facilities in company of the Governor of Kaduna State, Ndanusa told Sports Vanguard that Kaduna State was putting in place befitting and enduring facilities that would be the pride of the state and Nigeria in general.
"I fully understand why the Festival was postponed to February because the kind of facilities that are being built are exceptional and of high class. They are what Nigeria needs in her bid to host major international tournaments in the future.
"At every venue that I inspected, I discovered that attention is being paid to the little details that matter and the standard of work is high and it is hoped that when they complete places like the Games Village and other sundry issues Nigeria would be better for it", added Ndanusa, who also gave an appraisal of the transportation plans by the host state.
"They are not only thinking about the conventional road means of transportation but also including rail mode, which is a fantastic idea given that we need to exploit all means to ensure easy, quick and efficient means of movement of athletes, spectators and journalists during the duration of the Festival".
He also said he was delighted with the security plan being exploited by Kaduna State, stressing that if adhered to strictly it would make the Festival the safest ever held in recent times.
"They have already started surveillance work in the metropolis and they plan to use helicopters and latest telecommunication gadgets to ensure that the Festival is secured", said Ndanusa.
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