14th November, 2012
The Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the 18th National Sports Festival in Lagos has assured stakeholders that the names of accredited athletes and officials would soon be made public.
Less than 15 days to the Games, the MOC his yet to publish the list of participants. However, the MOC only concluded the Delegation Registration Meeting (DRM) on Sunday in Abuja, an innovation in the biennial competition.
The meeting is where athletes and officials are registered for the Games and the ineligible ones have their names removed, to check mercenaries and two states entering one athlete.
The Secretary of the Games Services and Secretariat, Deji Aladegbemi, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Monday that the MOC is yet to release the list.
“We are relying on the MOC for that all-important document.
“We have been working on assumptions in the provision of logistics and accommodation but believe that the document’s timely release will help us a lot in our planning,’’ he said.
The Secretary said the LOC had made provision for athletes and officials based on their past experiences of the festival.
He explained that the LOC would be responsible for the welfare of athletes, while state governments would cater for their officials.
Meanwhile the Assistant Chairman of the Media and Publicity Committee, Fred Edore, told NAN that more than 400 journalists had been accredited and that more were still being expected.
Edore, Chairman of the Lagos State Chapter of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN), said that their accreditation cards would be released three days before the Games.