Mr Lanre Ogunsuyi, the Commissioner for Information, Youth and Sports Development in Ekiti, on Thursday assured youths that all outdated sports facilities in the state would be upgraded in 2018.

Ogunsuyi gave the assurance in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ado-Ekiti.

According to him, some of the training equipment in the state’s stadia are outdated but the state government will try as much as possible to upgrade them.

He added that inadequate funds had affected and hindered the government from refurbishing and repairing some of the sports facilities.

The commissioner explained that the available funds were used to pay civil servants outstanding salaries and pensions.

Ogunsuyi said that the football pitches in Ikere, Ijero and Ikole Township Stadia would be repaired and put into good shape to be available for sports activities.

The commissioner noted that the proposal on how the sports facilities in the state would be upgraded had been included in the 2018 budget.

“ I want to assure youths in Ekiti that we are working towards upgrading all our sports facilities in the state without any further delay.

“My ministry and sports council management have written a proposal which have been included in the 2018 budget; we are only waiting for the approval of the budget.

“We have started planting grasses on the football fields in Ikole, Ikere and Ijero stadia and a maintenance team have been set up to keep the arena in good shape,” he said.

Ogunsuyi appealed to notable sponsors, individuals and organisations in Ekiti to assist and join the state government in reviving and improving grassroots sports in 2018.

He noted that some individuals and associations and traditional institutions had shown interest to partner with the state government in sponsoring football competitions.

Ogunsuyi urged others to emulate these good intentions and encourage the youths to embrace sports.

The commissioner, however, warned all the youths to shun cultism because it is a punishable and a grievous offence for anybody caught in the act under the newly passed law of Ekiti state.

He said that, henceforth, the state government would not tolerate any forms of killings, rioting, violence and harassment in the state university and other state owned colleges.

http://ekitidefender.com/2018/01/04/ekiti-upgrade-sports-facilities-2018/

Lalasticlala Dominique Ishilove Mynd44