The Minister of Youth and Sports, Barrister Solomon Dalung has said the facilities at the Stephen Keshi Stadium, Asaba are of high standard capable of hosting world tournaments.
Barr. Dalung made the statement on Thursday in a chat with newsmen shortly after inspecting facilities at the stadium which will host the 2018 edition of African Senior Athletics Championship.
According to the Sports Minister who was taken round facilities at the stadium by the Chairman of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the event, Chief Solomon Ogba, “there has been great and massive improvement on the stadium from the last time i came here.”
“I can confidently assert that with what I have seen here, our capacity to even host world championships is possible and this is because apart from the infrastructure, the equipment that has been installed and are being installed can serve and host the world,” he said, emphasising, “I must again, commend the government of Delta state for not only taking responsibility to host, but for this massive and durable legacy which the governor has invested; the sports community will live to remember him and his legacy and I am indeed impressed.”
He added, “this championship is an African championship and Nigeria is hosting, so, there is already existing partnership between the federal government and Delta State government.”
Explaining the nature of the championship, the Minister of Sports, stated, “this championship is a Senior African Championship, meaning that participants are professionals, so, they are coming here to either defend their titles or to upturn existing titles and make newer records and those who will emerge victorious here will emerge as African champions and they are going to take us to the next level.”
He also, clarified his roles in the crisis rocking the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) saying, “in democracy, the tool and the weapon for every individual is to express his discontent, so, that should not be magnified to be a crisis.”
