BENIN CITY- Edo State Deputy Governor, Rt. Hon. Comrade Philip Shaibu has assured of the state’s readiness to host the National Sports Fedtival, Edo 2020.
He gave the assurance shortly after inspecting the main bowl and other facilities at the Sam Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin. The stadium is expected to be the main venue for the national sports fiesta.
Shaibu who inspected the facilities in company of the site Engineer, Femi James was clearly impressed with the level of work done so far at the Stadium. He expressed optimism at meeting up with set completion deadline.
To meet up with this, Shaibu stated that the contractors were on site
even on Independence Day, a day set aside for public holiday to celebrate Nigeria’s 59th year of existence.
Despite the heavy rains, he said he was impressed with the level of work done, hence the confidence of the possibility of meeting up with the deadlines.
He addured that the facility would be ready on or before the end of the year due to the level of work done which brought up the need to test run facility before the kick off of the national sports festival.
Towards this end, he said though the stadium would be ready for use latest December of this year, there would be the hosting, November 11, 2019 of the football qualifying match for the Nations Cup between Nigeria’s Super Eagles and the team from Niger Republic.
He revealed that sports officials of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) were expected in the state in a fortnight (2 weeks time) to check and certify the stadium ready for use for the match.
He observed that government was clear on what it wanted to achieve, which was to build facilities to meet up with international standards.
He said, “We are looking beyond hosting the national sports festival, beyond hosting under 20 female FIFA World Cup, we are looking towards Nigeria hosting the Commonwealth Games with Edo State being one of the centres.”
He stated that during the last inspection, the sick bay was not ready but now it’s almost ready for use. This, he observed was a positive move.
He nonetheless put forward, “The seats in the stadium are almost ready for use too, the lightings of the stadium are already being connected, the sound system is already on, digital screen is already up, two more to go.”
Talking beyond the sports festival he avowed, ” We are now labelled( international recognition) in terms of the marathon race. The only state so far labelled. We also want to be labelled to be the first state in Nigeria that would be able to host an international athletics tournament.
According to him, “Our athletes are already winning medals in international engagements; a female athlete who won gold here just won a medal in the just concluded international athletic meet in Dorha.
” Edo is already coming back to that past glory. Nonetheless, we are clear that every facility here must meet international standards.”
The Deputy Governor maintained, ” I just inspected the Squash court; that is the first of its kind in Nigeria. No other state in Nigeria would that kind of facility by the time it is completed. We are already redesigning and reorganising ourselves to set the pace for others to emulate in all areas of sports facilities.”
He stated that trailblazing was “What Edo State was known for forty years ago (Bendel State). It’s the return of the native. We are bringing back sports glory to the state, starting with Edo 2020 Games and the facilities we are building.
He observed that the “Grass turf was good, same for the conference halls, the pitches and the lighting facilities which were already being connected. The sound already being test run, one electronic board up for use, with two more to go to complete that segment.”
On his part, Engineer Femi James of the Peculiar Concept, also assured that the facilities would be ready for use before the end of the year.
