The Director General of Lagos State Sports Commission and LOC / MOC Vice Chairman, Hon. Lekan Fatodu, has disclosed that the Local Organising Committee ( LOC ) of the maiden National Intermediate Games ( NIG) has put in place all necessary machineries to prevent age fraud in the forthcoming multiple sports games which Lagos State is hosting in October later this year.
Hon. Fatodu made the disclosure at a media parley with sports editors and media partners at the Bagauda Kalto Press Centre at Alausa, Ikeja to unveiled full plans for the multi sports games.
No fewer than 14,000 athletes from 36 States of the Federation and Federal Capital Territory ( FCT) are expected to participate in the Games. The Championship is an Initiative of the National Sports Commission, which is designed to bridge the gap between the National Youth Games and the National Sports Festival.
The Games are targeted at young athletes between the ages of 15 and 18 years, with the primary objective of identifying, nurturing and transitioning exceptional talents into elite sportsmen and women.
Fatodu said the Committee is working with the National Identification Management Commission to ascertain correct ages of participating athletes and prevent multiple representatives among other things.
He said he strict measure is coming under heels of Lagos State experience in Delta at the last Youth Games in which Lagos State had turned in highest number of petitions against states presenting 19 to 20 years old athletes for sporting championship for 15 years old.
Speaking earlier, the Honourable Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, who Chairs the Games Publicity Sub – Committee, confirmed the competition as the first ever National Youth Games of its kind in Nigeria, and said Lagos was determined to host it “excellently” pointing to the State’s record with EKO 2012 and Formula E 1 – prix as evidence of its hosting pedigree.
