Senator Iroegbu
22 December 2011
The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) is seeking for N20 billion to develop the required infrastructure for its bid as the host city for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, in Abuja.
This was part of the presentation made by the Secretary, Social Development Secretariat Department, Mrs. Blessing Onu, to the Minister of State for FCT, Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide.
The presentation was made at the inauguration of a 21-member committee on the 2018 Youth Olympic Games Bid headed by the Acting Permanent Secretary of the FCT, Alhaji Nuhu Ahmed.
Akinjide said that the FCTA will work with the committee to make to succeed because Nigeria needs to win the bid to showcase the country as an emerging economy; and that the bid is not only for Nigeria but for the continent at large.
She said the committee should not take the other African nations for granted but approach them early enough to be able to garner their support for the bid adding that this was important to prevent any situation of any negative response.
“Nigeria’s earlier loss for the 2014 Commonwealth Games to Scotland should provide the country with the experience that would serve as asset to make a good bid for the Youth Olympics Games,” she said.
She expressed satisfaction that the success of the bid would spur development of the FCT especially as the committee contemplates the development of a new district which she maintained must carry along the locals in such places.
She said: “The Administration is desirous of accelerated development of the Territory especially the satellite towns, and the committee must look at districts with comparable advantage for the locating the venue for the game for deployment of infrastructure.”
Meanwhile, Director of Sports in the Social development Secretariat, Alhaji Muhammed Halim Musa, who made the presentation on behalf of Onuh, explained that the N20 billion could be the cost of the whole project while about N10 billion will be needed for additional infrastructure where existing ones have been found.
Musa also said that for updating of infrastructure where they exist, about N2billion would be needed to complete them while N5 billion would also be required for logistics on the project.
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