Minister assures on Nigeria’s Commonwealth Games preparations

Nigeria's Minister for Sports and Chair National Sports Commission (NSC), Alhaji Isa Bio, on Wednesday said that the country preparations for October's Commonwealth Games in New Delhi are well on course.

Bio told the media in Abuja that the Federal Government had released the needed funds to enable the NSC and relevant national sports federations to commence their preparations.

"Preparations for the Games in India are well on course, and we have released the funds needed to the federations to start preparations.

"We have released funds for the training of our boxers, as well as the weightlifters,'' the sports minister said.

He said that the recent NNPC/Mobil Track and Field Championships in Calabar were part of the preparations, as it had enabled the athletic federation to assess the athletes.

He stated that the NSC will soon start the camping phase of the preparation, but failed to give the commencement date for camping exercise.

Bio said that the delay in the conduct of election into the executive board of the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) had not affected preparations for the Games.

"Elections or no elections, we have been working, and the sports federations have been doing their own too, and I don't think the elections issue is a problem to our preparations,'' he said.

The 19th Commonwealth Games will be held from October 3-14 in New Delhi, India with more than 8,000 athletes expected to take part.