Team Rivers on Wednesday said winning the Eko 2012 would be a perfect response to critics of their 2011 achievement when they won as hosts.
The state’s commissioner for sport Fred Igwe pointed out that improved welfare package for the athletes and adequate preparation were ingredients of success for the state in Eko 2012.
“We are meeting our financial obligations to the athletes and their welfare will continue to be first on our mind,” he said.
“We are in Lagos to win so as to justify our record in the last edition in 2011 in Port Harcourt when we swept the medals. Winning means a lot to us. We still have most of the athletes that did well in Port Harcourt so winning is possible again.”
Commenting on the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium, which is still under construction a year after it hosted some of the games of the last festival, Igwe expressed optimism that the stadium would be ready by March 2013, adding that the Aquatic Centre had hosted international event.
He said, “The stadium is still not fully completed. Work is still going on at the main bowl and hopefully by March 2013, the contractors would have finished their works on the stadium.
“But we are making use of the areas that have been completed like the Aquatic Centre. We want the stadium to be the centre of sports excellence in Africa where international event can be hosted. We had a test case recently with the hosting of a African junior swimming championship which was successful. We are bidding for the 2004 edition of the senior event because we are determined to make the best use of the facility.”
On the maintenance strategy in place for the giant facility, the commissioner said that during the planning stage, the state had a plan for safeguarding the beauty of the stadium.
“We acknowledge the high cost of maintenance but we are not shying away from that responsibility. We gave the maintenance responsibility to the company that built the Aquatic Centre and other facilities at the stadium, so it’s easy that way.”
On the failure of Nigeria to transform the talents of its athletes to international success, Igwe put the task at the door step of the National sports Commission, frowning at the method the body employed to prepare athletes for the London 2012 Olympic Games.
He said, “The sports festival should be able to produce athletes that will represent Nigeria in Rio 2016 if we can identify the young talents now and nurture their development.”