A group of officials attached to the various teams at the 18th National Sports Festival have expressed sadness over the poor condition of the accommodation provided for them by the host state.
The group who are mostly drivers for the states teams said the housing facilities provided for them at the University of Lagos and Yaba College of Technology hostels were not good enough because the rooms were too crowded and stuffy.
“We came on Monday but allocation of rooms was not completed until Tuesday, so some of us slept in the vehicles and on the field,” said a driver with the Osun State team who spoke of the condition of anonymity on Wednesday.
“We thought the condition would be better on Tuesday but what I found out was that about eight persons were checked into a hostel space, making it difficult for one to sleep well. There was no light at night so heat was at its peak just after midnight and we also have to battle with mosquitoes. I left the room around 12.30am to sleep at the balcony,” he added.
Another driver told our correspondent that although security was guaranteed at the hostels, keeping personal belongings is still a challenge.
“I keep my money and clothes inside the bus. Before leaving home, I had thought hotel facility would be provided for us here. School hostel doesn’t sound befitting especially for adults. I don’t know if there is better provision for feeding but so far, I have bought food with my money.” he added.
This is not the first complain about poor accommodation at the games. On Tuesday, Ogun State Sports Council said it rejected the Yabatech hostel for its team because the facility could not accommodate all its 600 athletes conveniently, with the state’s director of sports Adesola Faleti saying the space was “choking”. The state’s contingent was later relocated to a bigger facility at the Federal College of Education (Technical) at Akoka. He also addressed shortcomings in the provision of food for athletes.
“They have not allocated an appropriate number of caterers here because many of our athletes and officials are not being satisfied by the caterers,” said Faleti.