President, Nigeria Aquatics Federation (NAF), Babatunde Fatai-Williams, says that high cost of air travel within Africa is hindering the organisation of continental swimming competitions.
Fatai-Williams, also the President of CANA Zone 2 that includes West and Central African countries, made the assertion yesterday in Lagos in an interview with newsmen.
The Lagos-born veteran swimming administrator said the high cost of air travel within Africa accounted for the few competitions often experienced in the Africa’s swimming federations.
“It is true that we need to develop swimming in Africa, but we have challenges, especially the cost of air travel within Africa.
“The problem we have in Africa is the air transportation which is too expensive. Travelling within Africa is as expensive as travelling to far Europe at times.
“What it costs us to take a team to Dakar in Senegal is the same amount to Europe and that is one of the challenges we are facing. Air transportation is too expensive.
“Sometimes too, there are no direct flight to some countries and it is equally expensive for some West African countries coming to Nigeria for competitions,’’ he said.
Fatai-Williams said that CANA was trying to address the challenge, adding: “Nigeria could only send few swimmers to the championships in Bloemfontein, South Africa because of the cost of transportation.
“Travelling by road is not the option because the roads are bad.
“What we do now is to encourage each country to develop the sport within their domain because the stronger we are individually, the better for all of us.
“For us in CANA Zone 2, we have relationships among ourselves and maybe having zonal competitions,’’ he said.
Fatai-Williams said that to develop the indigenous swimmers, the federation was considering championships with neighbouring countries to minimise cost.
“We will consider having competitions with neighbouring countries which are close to us in terms of ranking; for Nigeria, Senegal is the closest.
“Senegal is the closest to us not in terms of distance but we have excellent relationships with them in spite of language differences.
“Countries like Ivory Coast and Togo are also coming up but they are not on the same level with Nigeria,’’ he said.
Fatai-Williams said that Nigeria would host this year’s annual CANA Zone 2 Championships in Lagos, adding that preparation was in top gear to ensure its success.
“In 2012, we hosted the CANA Zone 2 championships in Akure and it was a fantastic outing. This year, we have been given the hosting right.
“The competition will be held later in the year because of the crowded events the association has. We have a world event in July followed by the Masters in August.
“So, for the CANA Zone 2, it will be either in September or October and we have two options for the hosting; it’s either at the Teslim Balogun Stadium or National Stadium Swimming pool.
“We are excited to host because we came second in the last edition in Dakar and it is always good for us to compete among ourselves within the zone,’’ he said.