Duro Ikhazuagbe 

Ahead of the official flag off of the inaugural Niger Delta Sports Festival (NDSF) on Wednesday by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the Uyo Township Stadium, security deployment has been activated at the various venues of the sports fiesta in the Akwa Ibom State capital.

Already, a detachment of operatives from the Nigeria Police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corp and Department of State Security are already on ground at the six locations hosting the festival.

According to a member of the Security Sub-committee who pleaded anonymity, there will be strict adherence to the access codes as unauthorized persons will not not be allowed into restricted areas.

“There are defined access codes for different areas and only those with accreditation tags with specific access codes would be allowed into such areas”, the official said.

Security vans have been stationed at strategic locations at the venues as at Monday morning.

Meanwhile, members of the Akwa Ibom State Executive Council led by Elder Paul Bassey, the Commissioner for Sports made a last minutes round of tour of the venues on Monday morning as directed by Governor Umo Bassey Eno. They were joined by the Co-Chairman of the Main Organising Committee (MOC), Sir Itiako Ikpokpo and some other members of the MOC.

Bassey again expressed satisfaction with the level of preparations and assured stakeholders that the state was ready for the festival.

Some of the inspected facilities include the renovated Olympic-size swimming pool at the Uyo Township Stadium, Basketball, Volleyball and Handball and Tennis.

Other venues are the Ultrafit Sports Centre which will host table tennis and tennis as well as the Itam West Secondary School that will also host Handball.

The festival is sponsored by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and supported by Premium Trust Bank. 

About 3000 athletes, 800 coaches and technical officials from the nine mandate states of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) that includes host Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Cross River, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Ondo, Abia and Imo  states, are expected at the games which will feature 17 events from April 1 through April 8.