Facilities’ upgrade in Akwa Ibom at advanced stage, says Igbigbisie

Organisers of the maiden Niger Delta Sports Festival (NDSF) have said that they have made reasonable progress in the upgrade of some sporting facilities identified for the festival. They said that the turning point in the ongoing facelift of the facilities has been the effective deployment of engineers and other support workers.

Chairman of the Facilities and Transport Sub-Committee, Dr Ochuko Igbigbisie, at the weekend, said that the major work is the refurbishment of the Uyo Township Stadium swimming pool.

“It is an Olympic size nine-lane pool, but many of the technical facilities have been vandalised. The work started today with the draining of the water to ascertain the condition of the floor,” Igbigbisie said after an inspection that took place in Uyo.

On an upbeat note, the Facilities and Transport Sub-Committee chairman said that the preliminary report of engineers showed that the pool is not leaking and can be revived.

“Our major fear was allayed when the engineers handling the swimming pool upgrade declared that the pool is not leaking, which would have posed an extended threat to timely repairs,” he explained.

He assured that the facility would be ready one week before the festival

On the state of some other facilities like tennis and basketball courts, he disclosed that they would require reflooring and other touch-ups.

The refurbishment of moribund facilities in the host state is a major collateral benefit that the festival, sponsored by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) brings to host states.

“The organisers will not be going away with these upgraded facilities at the end of the festival, that is the essence of hosting the event and benefitting from the NDDC intervention through sports,” Igbigbisie