President of Nigeria Athletics Federation (AFN), Tonobok Okowa, has lamented the lack of standard sporting facilities to support the development of athletes into world-class stars The Trumpet gathered.
Okowa said this in the third edition of the AllComers National Athletics Championship at MKO Abiola National Stadium, Abuja.
The AFN President appealed to governments at all levels to develop sporting facilities in their territories to serve as springboards to athletes’ longtime dreams of excelling on the international stage.
“The major challenge of the athletes in Nigeria is lack of facilities for their training ahead of any major competition,” Okowa said in the closing ceremony of the two-day event held in Package A of the stadium.
According to Okowa, this edition which is the third after the maiden edition was held in Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Edo State, in March, followed by a second in April in Yaba College of Technology Sports Complex, Lagos State, serves as an avenue to scout new talents ahead of African Senior Athletics Competition coming up by June in Mauritius.
He said, “The objective of it all is to select the athletes to represent Nigeria at the forthcoming 22nd African Senior Athletics Championships in Mauritius.
“Many new athletes have now been discovered and picked. They have been making waves, competing with the older athletes, and coming out with a better time than the earlier one in the grassroots development programme.
“I am therefore happy that this development is making way for the numerous younger ones who are getting pushed,” the AFN President acknowledged.
Okowa commended the event which he highlighted, fast-tracks the development of athletics among the grassroots.
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Furthermore, he praised the coaches and athletes for their commitments to the sports and assured them of improved welfare packages.
He said, “The federation is set to come up with welfare packages, both for the athletes and coaches, and the more they work the better they become.”
The AFN, while disclosing that the objective of the event was achieved, conceded that the names of the new talents discovered will be released until Monday.
However, the 22nd African Senior Athletics Championships is scheduled to hold in Mauritius from June 8 to June 12.
