Ahead of the 2018 edition of African Senior Athletics Championship in August, Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa has reassured that the Asaba township stadium, named after football great, Stephen Okechechukwu, will be ready and delivered by the contractor to host the event.
Governor Okowa inspected the 22,000-capacity stadium in Asaba, which started in 2000 by the James Ibori administration but was abandoned since then.
The governor was shown round the facility by the former President of Athletics Federation of Nigeria and the Chairman of the local organising committee (LOC) for the championship, Chief Solomon Ogba, who incidentally is the new contractor handling the project.
"It is good that we are here today to see the level of work done; you can see that the contractor is working to deliver the job to international standards," the governor said, adding, "what you are witnessing is the reconstruction of the stadium as it has been redesigned to accommodate nine lanes from the original six lanes and I am satisfied with the level of work done so far."
He continued, "We are ready to host Africa because the championship will make people from different parts of Africa to gather in our state; it will be a thing of joy for us to host Africa. The benefits of hosting the championship cannot be quantified, don’t forget sports is a unifying factor all over the world and that unity, peace and love for one another will be celebrated during the championship," Governor Okowa said.
