Tandoh: Lagos has set the pace for others with Eko 2012

Kweku Tandoh

For the first time in the history of the National Sports Festival, the date scheduled for the event was not altered by the host state while lots of innovations have also been included in the sports fiesta by the host - Lagos of the 18th edition tagged Eko 2012. 

From the day the protocol agreement was signed to the start of the festival, Lagos has kept to all details and for the Secretary General of the Local Organising Committee (LOC), Kweku Tandoh, Eko 2012 has indeed thrown a challenge to other states hoping to host the championship. 

In this interview, Tandoh admits that the cordial relationship between LOC and MOC has helped to lift the Games, despite the challenges faced prior to the Festival.
How will you assess the 18^th National Sports Festival (Eko 2012)?

In terms of the organisation of the festival, I want to say and I believe the LOC has done very well in terms of providing facilities we had to provide. In terms of providing logistics, accommodation, feeding, security and medical to a large extent we have been able to cope. With everything that has happened since the festival started and this is just a testimony to the planning that has been put in place over the last nine to ten months that the LOC has been functioning. On a general level and speaking to a number of people, the MOC and honourable Minister of Sports, I believe the LOC has done very well for this festival.

There have been complaints about feeding and accommodation, what is the LOC doing to make sure all these things are taken care of?

 
When talking of accommodation, the earlier complains we received were actually from people who we were not mandated to provide accommodation for. We were mandated to provide accommodation for athletes, coaches and a certain category of officials and this we had done and even surpassed in terms of provision of accommodation, but we found out that a lot of states came into the Games Village with a lot of people that had not been accredited and so we had more people in the Games Village than were supposed to be there and that is what some people termed as having accommodation hitches. We have appealed to the states to ask all those who came with them and are not meant to be in the Games Villages to vacate it so that those we were supposed to provide for can enjoy what we have put in place for them. Also, in terms of entertainment, the athletes after the competition have a lot of activities lined up. For example, starting from Tuesday, film shows would be shown in all the Games Village. Film shows, music, cultural performance will be available every evening from 7pm. 

Also, we have put a tourism package together for the athletes especially those that are from outside Lagos and that started at the weekend. We have the sea tour and the bus tour. The sea tour takes them around Lagos by boat and we are using the boats at Oyinkan Abayomi Jetty in Victoria Island and I was at the flag off of that tour and I must tell you that the athletes were excited and I saw some of them when they came back saying they really had an exciting time on board and also educationally, they were able to see a lot of things they had only read of in the newspapers and history books. So everyday, we would be having these tours. Centres have been set up in all the Games Villages for people to register for the tours, the tour is captioned “See Lagos, Feel Lagos” and everyday it would be available by sea and by land to take people around the state to get the benefit of Lagos .

There were complains about lighting at the National Stadium for events like boxing and table tennis?

There is a limit to what the LOC can do there (at the National Stadium). The National Stadium is a federal facility and we expect that the National Sports Commission (NSC) would upgrade at least those aspects of the National Stadium that we would be using for the festival. But for one reason or the other, they were not able to do it. So, we had to at the last minute, put up some contingency plans to get those places up and running. The fact that we are even able to have any event at the National Stadium is because of the work we had to do to bring them up to the standard at which they are right now. It is not a nice story about the stadium, but I believe the Honourable Minister of Sports who has also been visiting the venues of the Games would have noted the areas of deficiency and I am sure they would do something about the National Stadium.

It was in the news that some military men beat up some athletes and we have the presence of military men in all the venues, what the LOC is doing to ensure this did not repeat itself?

It is an incident that was brought to our attention and we acted on it immediately, we got the Army Commandant to speak to his men and ask them to be patient with the athletes. Also the athletes have to be patient and we believe it was just a misunderstanding and we can assure it would not repeat itself again.

 
The opening ceremony was applauded all over the world, what should we expect for the closing ceremony?

 
The closing ceremony unlike the opening ceremony of any event is usual a bit more carefree. It is also always more fun, more of a party, more of a carnival atmosphere. The LOC is putting together a closing ceremony that would remain in the mind of Nigerians and even the rest of the world. All I can say for now is that we are going to have a lot of musical acts like Wizkid, Wande Cole and efforts are being made to get one or two others that would be added. In the next couple of days, we will have a list of those that would be performing. Even before the official closing ceremony starts at about 6pm, we would have the gates open at about 2pm and between that time and 6pm, there would be a lot of entertainment and musical shows for the crowd before the closing ceremony and after the closing ceremony, the party continues as there will be fireworks and other amusements. 

It is going to be an event we believe that is going to stay in the mind of everyone that is available to see. And talking about seeing the festival, I would like to invite everyone to our website, www.eko2012ng.com. There is a feature on the website that allows you to view events as they are taking place live at many of the centres. Most of the events are streamed live so that you can sit down in your home and use your phone, iphone, ipad or laptop to watch events as they are happening.

 
As Secretary General of the LOC, what challenges have you faced during the last few months?

 
It has been an exciting time for me because challenges must come with the job. I have been working with an excellent team, the LOC is headed by Her excellence the Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire and if you know her very well, you will understand that she is a an excellent administrator. And she has made herself available to ensure that things are done properly. The LOC vice- chairman, who is also the Commissioner for Youth, Sports and Social Development is also a pleasant person to work with and we have the rest of the LOC members, chairmen of the sub-committees, and everyone has been wonderful. Together, we have worked as a team and whatever we have been able to do is because of the joint efforts that everyone has put in. For me, as the Secretary General, it has been exciting, I have learned a lot over time, I have been exposed to a lot of other areas I did not know about but the totality of the experience is something that would always be with me and I am sure would help me in my future endeavours.

 
How much has been spent in organising this festival?

 
I am not too sure about the exact figure, but I know there was a figure approved for the festival sometime in December which was about N5billion by the House of Assembly and I know the state has not gone back to ask for more money. So, whatever we have spent is in line with that budget, which is another plus for the Lagos State Government because it means we have been able to keep everything below bar and been able to work in line of the budget allocated.

How much has the private sector been able to contribute?

 
The private sector has done quite well and they could have done better, but for one reason or the other, we are in the situation we are in now. But I will also commend those that put in money and products and as we got closer to the festival, many more came on board but it is something that we would have liked to see more commitment earlier so as to help us plan better and also to have helped us integrate them into what we are doing. The support of the private sector has been encouraging for us in Lagos State and I am sure it is something we would build on for future events.
In addition, we have done a lot of things in preparation for the festival. We organised international sports seminar where we had speakers from all over the world come to talk to us about the legacies of hosting sporting events. We have empowered our people in Lagos State and we have put in place infrastructures that would be available for Lagosians to use to develop themselves in various sports. We have a brand new sports medicine centre at Rowe Park, Yaba and we have also gone overboard in providing an adequate environment for athletes to perform in terms of providing for their welfare, giving them an atmosphere where they can relax and also where they can maximize their sporting potentials so that at the end of the day, they come out with performances that would be to the benefit of Nigeria. We also have worked on this arrangement with the private sector. 

We have gotten good support from the private sector and more than anything else, I believe we have been able to tell the world that indeed, we can begin to operate in Nigeria using international standards and that is what we are trying to do in every sub-committee in every assignment at Eko 2012. It is not the way it used to be but the way it should be and that has been our driving force in everything we have done. I believe we have been able to set new grounds, lay new standards that subsequent festivals and hosts of festivals would build upon to take Nigerian sports to where it is supposed to be.