The federation’s plan is for championships to be taking place every six weeks here in Abuja; and about four of our cyclists will be leaving for South Africa. They will be training every week around South Africa, after then two of the cyclists will go for the same kind of training.
What are the benefits from the Abuja championship?
There will be monetary reward and trophies for outstanding cyclists. The LOC has nominated two cyclists that will enjoy their scholarship towards 2012 Olympics in London. We nominated our female national champion, who did very well at the last All African Games in Algeria.
Even as we talk, South Africa wants her there, because she is ranked number one in Nigeria. The second cyclist nominated is Oyo Ajibade, the male champion.
Is that part of preparations for the Olympic Games?
Yes, so far we have discovered some of them that we are going to prepare them towards the African Championship in Mozambique.
Sponsorship has always been the bane of the various sports in the country, how much sponsorship have you been enjoying?
Last year, we had a sponsorship from the Governor of Plateau State, Jonah Jang. So we are trying to have the second edition of the championship this year. Hopefully, there is going to be a national championship in Kaduna, tagged Governor Namadi Sambo National Cycling Championship for male and female. The championship will come up between June and July this year.
The sponsorship we got from the Plateau State governor, however, cannot take place because of the crisis rocking the state. As soon as everything there is normalcy, we will stage the championship.
That means the future is bright for Cycling in Nigeria
Yes, the future is very bright for the sport, right now we are working towards organising championship every two months in order to create awareness for the sports in the country. By the time we are looking for sponsors, they will know exactly where they will be putting their money. You cannot sit down just like that and say you want sponsors for your programmes. We have to start doing something, and then sponsorship will come in.
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