In exactly a week's time, the cream of the crop of U-17 teams in the world will converge on the world's most populous black nation for the 13th edition of the FIFA U-17 World Cup tagged Nigeria 2009.

It will mark the first time that the country will be hosting the cadet championship and the second time that the tournament would be hosted on the continent.

Prior to Nigeria being awarded the hosting rights for the 2009 edition, Egypt were the only other African country to have hosted the event after it was awarded the rights for the 1997 edition won by Brazil.

Already, the awareness and excitement for the event has assumed palpable dimensions in the country, particularly with the World Cup trophy being exhibited on a tour of the eight designated host cities for the championship.

The trophy tour, aimed at mobilizing support among football-loving Nigerians for the global championship which is expected to run from October 24 through November 15, will wind down on October 23 when the glittering trophy will be finally handed over to FIFA officials at the Abuja National Stadium just before the opening ceremony.

Beyond the adulation, however, it is important that the nation borrow a leaf from Egypt, host of the just-concluded U-20 World Cup, in its task of hosting a befitting championship that would be remembered for years to come.

Egypt 2009 has come and gone and though the host country failed to make it to the final, the nation received full marks for staging a hugely successful event which now holds the record for the highest attendance at that level.

The organizational ability of the Egyptians was vital to the overall success of the championship and world soccer governing body, FIFA, are hoping that Nigeria 2009 would go down the same path as the Egypt event.

In the aftermath of the doubts that had trailed the country's readiness to host the biennial championship, the confirmation of the nation's status as hosts of the u-17 World Cup by FIFA must have come as a big relief.

The cadet championship, thus, presents an opportunity to prove wrong the critics in the executive committee of FIFA who had schemed to have the hosting rights withdrawn from Nigeria.

In order to ensure that the nation's reputation is better laundered in the eyes of FIFA and the international community at the end of the 23-day championship, all aspects of the hosting details must be taken care of.

Security is one such detail that must be seriously attended to by the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) for the event.

The recent spate of kidnappings in the South East and South South regions of the country which has also reared its ugly head in Kaduna State and the underlying threat of ethno-religious crises in the North are issues that should concern the Security sub-committee.

In view of the above, the security of visiting teams, officials and guests should be a primary consideration and efforts should be attuned to nipping in the bud anything that could pose a threat to their stay in the country during this period.

Also pertinent to the success of the championship is the state of the facilities at our disposal. It is a fact that some of the facilities ear-marked for the event are in the latter stages of their completion. Nevertheless, there should be a conscious effort at ensuring that they are ready before the big kick off next Saturday.

Paramount among these is the Bauchi centre where the Zaranda Hotel, which is designated to host the teams and FIFA officials in that sub-seat, is reportedly in need of some final touches to upgrade it to the standard required by FIFA.

That is not to ignore the importance of transportation and other logistics to the success of the championship. A lot rides on the ability of the LOC to surmount the challenges it is bound to face within the three week period during which the tournament will be held.

Hosting a successful championship may just rub off on matters on the pitch where defending champions and national U-17 side, the Golden Eaglets, will be looking to retain the title they won at the last edition in Korea two years ago as well as make history as the first side to win the championship four times..