By Ummi Ismael, Minna
Niger State governent has denied speculations about possible pulling out from the National Sports Festival (NSF) rescheduled for February 14, 2021 tagged, ‘‘Edo 2020.”
The clarification became necessary following speculations that the state government was contemplating pulling out of the festival re-scheduled for the third time because, ‘’there are no facilities/equipment for training while the available ones are in state of disrepair’’.
It was however gathered that that Niger state at the moment has no single Squash Court for training of players after last year’s rainstorm destroyed the twin court at David Mark road, and the Tennis Court within the same facility is also not in proper shape.
The state Commissioner for Sports and Youth Development, Mr. Emmanuel Umar, coud not be reached for comments, but work on the multi-million naira Sports Village iniated by the Governor Bello-led administration at Bahago Secondary School round-about, Minna has been suspended.
No Contractor or site workers available within the vicinity for comments as the area looked abandoned when our correspondent visited the Bahago round-about Sports Village to assess the level of work therein.
Reacting, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Sports and Youth Development, Alhaji Yunusa Mohammed Nahauni, said that there was no cause for alarm as efforts were being made to revamp the facilities to boost sporting activities in the state.