Sports
NSF 2026: Slow Pace Of Work Worry Stakeholders In Enugu
The stakeholders are also worried that since the Main Organising Committee (MOC) and the Local Organising Committee (LOC) met in September last year, the LOC has not met again to continue work on the festival.
The MOC and the LOC met on September 15, 2026 and agreed on early preparations for the Festival.
Among other things, members were updated on the state of the facilities and ongoing construction works after which they agreed to meet again in October 2025 to further assess readiness and provide guidance as preparations advance.
Among the facilities slated for the games is the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, which the LOC said would be revamped comprehensively to make it “unrecognisable.”
The LOC also said that a brand new multi-purpose games village will be constructed at the Awgu Games Village site, while a new Olympic-sized swimming pool would be built for the games.
But some stakeholders said yesterday that since the last meeting in 2025, members of the LOC have not been carried along “and we don’t know what is going on.”
A stakeholder at the NSC told The Guardian yesterday that Enugu State has “kept everybody in the dark and we don’t know what is going on.”
The stakeholder, who pleaded anonymity, said: “They are supposed to build a swimming pool for the festival, but up till now work has not started on the facility.
“When we asked some members of the LOC they told us that they could not give us any answer, and alleging that they were not being carried along.
“We are supposed to start test running some of these facilities as early as June if they are to be used for the festival.
“What we hear that Enugu State is busy recruiting athletes from Delta and Edo states as they want to win the festival. It is good to strive to win the games, but it should also put the facilities in place first.”
Reacting to the complaints, Enugu State Commissioner for Sports, Llyod Ekweremadu, said: “Let me assure the sporting public there is nothing to worry about. The work is going to be done. The primary work has already been done and the facilities will be available ahead of the Festival. There shouldn’t be cause for concern.”
He acknowledged that work has not yet started on the swimming pool, adding, however, that “construction would soon start and it would be completed ahead of schedule.”
On the complaints by some LOC members that they are not being carried along, Ekweremadu said that he is not aware of any members not being carried along.
“We have a platform where we all communicate. So, if there’s anybody that feels such a way, it has not been communicated on that platform or to me directly. So I’m not aware of that.”
A well-known football pundit in the State, Chief Christopher Okonkwo has lauded the efforts and vision of the Super Eagles Coach Eric Chelle for going from one venue of the Nigeria Domestic Nigeria Professional Football League match to the other in monitoring Nigerian players, with a view to invite some exceptional good one discovered into the main stream of the Super Eagles team.
Okonkwo, who made the commendation in an interview at the Port Harcourt Club recently, described the positive move by Coach Chelle as a good step in the right direction, noting that the practice was how its been done in the past among any contracted coach assigned to tinker the Super Eagles team.
“Truly, it has been an old tradition in the country seeing any newly engaged Coach to lead the National team, visiting some our Nigeria League venues during the league matches to spot light some good talents that could be used to beef up some grey areas in the department of Eagles team”
He, however, frowned at the current situation where our coaches had continously been over depending on the use of foreign based players during invitation of players to the National camp, thereby, relegating the domestic home based league players to the background as if they have nothing much to offer to the team.
“I can vividly recall that the likes of great players in the mode of Finidi George, Taribo West, Kanu Nwankwo, Austin Okocha, Richard Owobokiri, Emmanuel Osuigwe among others started from Nigeria football league before they graduated to play in Europe through which they later invited to Super Eagles camp to represent Nigeria”
“Besides, I’m also of the view that going to secondary school football competitive games could equally serves as a a good platform to discover budding talents that could be nurtured to become great stars in near future”, Okonkwo frankly added.
Okonkwo, therefore, prayed that any football coach to be engaged by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to tinker the Super Eagles should be told not to confine himself in staying in big hotel alone but to be visiting some of our local league match venues, with a view to discover some good players that can be drafted into the Super Eagles team.
“Indeed, I stand to be challenged that there some young good players in the Nigeria Professional League. If spotted and exposed, could give the some of the invited foreign based players a stiff competitive fight in securing a postion in the team”, Okonkwo emphatically stated.
Ezechukwu, one of the youngest members of the Nigerian contingent at the championship in Ghana, said her ambition was to win the 100m title in style and cap it with a new personal record.
The fresh secondary school graduate explained that she is fully focused on contributing to Team Nigeria’s medal hopes and is determined to deliver strong performances across her events.
“My main objective in Ghana is to clinch the 100m title and the 4×100m,” Ezechukwu told Tidesports source.
“Nigeria can be assured of my very best and my commitment to the Team. I would love to set a new personal best in Ghana, but anything that comes, I will take it. The spirit in the team is high, and I think we are ready to go,” she said.
Ezechukwu, who was part of Nigeria’s women’s 4x100m relay squad at the World Relays in Botswana, said the experience gained from that competition has strengthened her mindset heading into the continental championships.
She admitted that she learned valuable lessons from her previous outing, including a difficult moment during the relay where an early error affected the team’s rhythm, but said she has used the experience to improve her discipline and composure.
“The secret is just being disciplined, training hard and trusting my coach and believing in God, and the result will show,” she added.
The teenager is part of a 41-member Nigerian team comprising 24 female and 17 male athletes competing at the championships, which begin today at the University of Ghana, Legon.
Nigeria are expected to compete across multiple track and field events as they aim for a strong finish against the continent’s elite athletes.
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