As Nigeria firms up preparations towards the Tokyo 2020 Olympic, the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the organic Japanese City of Kisarazu as camp venue for Team Nigeria.
The Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, made the disclosure in a statement signed by his Special Assistant, Kola Daniel.
He said that the MoU was jointly signed by Nigeria and the Mayor of Kisarazu City, Yoshikuni Watanabe, who noted that the development tallied with the new direction of early preparation for tournaments.
Dare said he was happy to have started the preparation towards the Olympics early enough which was a sign good things to come.
“About three weeks ago, Nigeria started in earnest its Olympics preparations. We had waited for the completion of the Doha Athletics Championship before starting officially our preparations.
“We have less than 9 months and where the pre-games camping will take place is critical to our preparations for Tokyo 2020.
“I’m glad that this morning we are able to follow up on initiatives of previous Ministers and Ambassadors who have acted rightly on behalf of this country,” he said.
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The Minister also expressed gratitude to the mayor for keeping faith with the proposal initiated under the previous administration, adding that Nigeria with the rest of the world looks forward to Tokyo 2020.
“This meeting offers us an opportunity to formalize the pre-games camping with the city of Kisarazu, so even after the MOU, there are still a couple of issues we have to work on together.
“The MOU establishes an understanding with the City and also the country of Nigeria. I have read the MOU, it is in good faith and we trust that good faith will pervade the entire period that would be engaged.
“We are still coming up with a list of sports that would be camped in Kisarazu, so we will provide needed information going forward.
“We should perhaps from now on a weekly basis try to maintain the feedback so as to be on the same page,” he said.
Dare praised Japan for the country’s preparedness to host the world, saying though he had yet to visit Japan, everyone who visited had brought back nice words about the beauty of the country.
“It is also about the preparedness to host the Olympics and the world, and the Ministry looks forward to a successful pre-games camping and also a very successful Olympics itself,” he said.
“Mayor Yoshikuni Watanabe, expressed gratitude to the Minister for hosting the delegation, adding that his city is proud to identify with Nigeria because of its football loving nature.
NAN
