5 October 2009
Lagos — Popular ghetto singer, Daddy Showkey is to lead other notable musicians on trophy tour of host cities of the FIFA Under-17 World Cup starting with Bauchi on October 7 and 8. The replica of the trophy to be presented to the final winner of the cadet football fiesta is to feature prominently during the awareness/ mobilisation tour.
Addressing newsmen at the weekend, Patrick Osohase of Eventica said the tour is to mobilise the people of the various cities and create awareness of the various matches that will be played in each of the cities.
The tour rail consists of 40 flat bed trucks, one each for the 24 participating countries in the World Cup, with their flags and decor depicting their culture, while the official sponsors of the tour have one each of the 16 flat beds to also drive their brands.
"Each host city has two days for the tour. On day one, the train sets off from the Government House, then travels through the mapped out city routes to end sometime in the evening, and later the governors bail/cocktail. Day two, has a line up of free entertaining activities for the public to last for a period of three hours, and will feature a concert, fashion show, comedians and fireworks etc," revealed the event organisers.
It will be the turn of Kano on October 9th and 10th while Kaduna follows on the 11th and 12th. Calabar holds 13th and 14th while Enugu follows on the 16th and 17th. Ijebu-Ode takes its turn on the tour on the 18th and 19th with Lagos billed for 20th and 21st. Abuja is to cap the awareness show on the 22nd through 24th before the kick off of the first match of the Nigeria 2009 event.
The organizers said the show in Lagos would have more razzmatazz on the second day, as there would be a boat regatta before the evening's entertainment. "The regatta will start from Ozumba Mbadiwe, in Victoria Island then sail past the Marina, to THISDAY Newspaper head office in Apapa, the official print media to the games, where it will anchor for a while to entertain ball fans."
On why the tour was starting this late, Osohase said the Local Organising Committee only approved the tour on September 24th, though work had began for the past one and half years ago on the project.
He said in view of FIFA's guidelines on the handling of the trophy, "we will only be making use of the replica trophy because we don't want to run foul of the set down guidelines.
"Owing to timing and logistics, we've decided to reduce the tour to just eight cities that would play host to the tournament. The trophy tour is a road show aimed at mobilising, creating awareness and unity amongst all football loving fans and supporters in host cities", he said.
The trophy, which arrived the country last week, has been deposited at First Bank Nigeria Plc for safe keep.
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