2018 NSF rolling on the wheels of ‘fire brigade’

N400m cannot run the sports festival. So how can we pull out because of N400m?” he queried.

Also, Dalung had bemoaned the late release of funds which were released last Monday. It was gathered that N1.3bn was released by the federal government.

He stated this during the Pre Scientific Congress on National Sports Festival in Abuja on Monday.

“We are planning and hosting the National Sports Festival in nine months instead of two years. You should expect some of the challenges we are facing.

“The government must change the attitude of releasing money at the dying minute. We have not come to appreciate sports as major factor of national development,” he noted.

Similarly, Dalung stated the reason why Cross River could not host the National Sports Festival in 2014.

It will be recalled that the city of Calabar was chosen as the host for the biennial competition after the formal conclusion of the Lagos edition in 2012.

“When Calabar was unable to host, we had to extend the benefit of doubt and see whether they would be able to host.

“But when it was beyond doubt that they lacked the capacity to host, we had to summon a national council of sports which decided that since it’s the Federal Government that owns the Festival, it should repossess it and ensure its stabilised before it can start moving round,” he said.

He further reiterated that the FCT will gain economically from the 10 days competition.

“No host city in the world has hosted sports festival and does not declare excess. For Abuja, it is going to be economic transformation. The national sports festival is one of the legacies of our national unity.

“It will be a boost to our efforts to entrench national integration and unity in Nigeria,” he said.

In the same vein, he revealed that two states which he declined to mention at the time of the briefing have indicated interest to host the next edition of the Festival.

“We have received two applications from two states who have indicated interest and have provided guaranty they will host the next edition. The council on sports will look at it,” he stated.

Speaking further, Dalung said he is confident that the Festival won’t fade into oblivion. He revealed that plans were in place to ensure that the Festival holds every two years.

“After the resolution of the national council of sports, we decided to come back and think outside the box and in doing that, we felt that engaging the private sector, it will go a long way in mitigating against some of these challenges.

“After this edition, there is going to be series of mobilisation, going round to educate people, road shows discussing these issues before getting to the Games proper,” he revealed.

He however urged the states in the federation to see the National Sports Festival as a national asset, not as federal government project.

So after much ado, the 2018 sports festival is moving eventually but on the wheels of the usual fire brigade approach said to be Nigeria’s trademark.

To herald the 10-day National Sports Festival, the Torch of Unity was received at the Abuja City Gate by Minister of Youths and Sports Development, Barrister Solomon Dalung and his counterpart, the FCT Minister, Mallam Muhammad Musa Bello on Thursday.

This was followed by the official opening ceremony in the evening of the same day. It was opportunity for athletes and officials to announce their arrival in the games.

As it is expected of event produced by fire-brigade approach, the games commenced on Thursday after a poorly attended opening ceremony at main bowl of the Abuja National Stadium.

Except for few states like Lagos, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Oyo and Ogun that paraded athletes in large numbers, most of the contingents were either shabbily dressed or few in number.

In addition, even as some events commenced on the day of the opening ceremony, work was ongoing on most of the venues. However, the festival is on and will end on December 16.

Delta State are the defending champions of the National Sports Festival.