Dalung: Preparations for Rio 2016 ‘three years behind’

Nigeria should have started preparations for the 2016 Olympics in Rio three years ago, Solomon Dalung, minister of youth and sports, has said.

He was speaking on Wednesday at a seminar to mark the 2015 FCT Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) week in Abuja.

Dalung said the build-up should have started three years before the games.

“The Olympic Games requires early preparation, at least three years before the games. We have to look at our budgetary preparation for attending events,” he said.

Dalung promised to engage President Muhammadu Buhari to make him realise the urgency of the games and release money for preparations.

The minister said that if corruption was eradicated, growth would return in the sector.

“Once we are able to minimise corruption, we will grow the industry and the best way to do it is to be transparent,” he said.

“I will tackle corruption headlong in this industry and do my best to erase this in our system.”

Earlier, the Director-General of the National Sports Commission, Al-Hassan Yakmut, said the successful development of an Olympian requires culmination of many years of training and support.

Yakmut said that it was a long term process, both in context and intensity, which required high level of training and education.