NSC budgets N2.418b for Commonwealth Games, others

N1.42b for facilities’ maintenanceThe National Sports Commission (NSC) will spend a total sum of N2, 418, 069, 776 to prepare athletes and officials for the Commonwealth Games and other major championships, which the Commission will sponsor, athletes to in the year 2014.
  The Commonwealth Games is expected to kick off on July 23 in Glasgow, Scotland, with Nigeria competing in about eight sporting disciplines, which it has comparative advantage over others, and hopeful of winning medals in.
  Also, other sports federations are expected to participate in other tournaments and championships in the year 2014 which the NSC have captured as sporting activities in its budget appropriation for the year.
  Additionally, the Commission has proposed to commit the sum of N1.428b to the construction and maintenance of all the six Federal Government-owned stadia as well as other sports facilities in the six-geo political zones of the country.
  This is captured in the total N5.548b budget, which the NSC appropriated for the 2014 fiscal year and forwarded to the Budget Office of the Federal Ministry of Finance.
  A breakdown of the budget, which The Guardian obtained from the Budget Office, indicates that the NSC will commit a total sum of N100m to complete the grand stands and provision for fencing of natural pitches in all the Federal Government stadia in the six–geo political zones of the country, while it earmarked the sum of N128m for the completion of the mini sports centres, which it started in 2013 in the six geo–political zones.
  Coded NSC 002004013, the Commission appropriated the sum of N700m for the maintenance of federal stadia in Abuja, Lagos, Enugu, Kaduna, Bauchi and Kano, while it budgeted the sum of N200m for the provision of sports equipment at the various stadia.
  The NSC also is set to develop the game of basketball in Otukpo, the home town of the Senate President, David Mark, with the proposed construction of an indoor sports complex and basketball complex at Akpegede, Otukpo this year with the sum of N200m. It has also appropriated the sum of N100m for the maintenance of the yet to be commissioned National High Performance Centre in Abuja.