To ensure that Nigeria stages befitting tournaments, the Nigeria Modern Pentathlon Federation has set up a Local Organising Committee (LOC) for hosting of Youths Olympic Games (YOG) qualifiers for Africa and Senior Africa Champions holding in Lagos on December 4 to 11, 2017.
The LOC was inaugurated at the board room of the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) in Lagos and for the President of the Nigeria Modern Pentathlon Federation, Jonathan Nnaji, the YOG qualifiers would consist of four modern pentathlon disciplines of laser shooting and running, swimming and fencing while the senior championship will have in addition to the four disciplines, horse riding which is the fifth sport of modern pentathlon.
Nnaji added that as a pre-requisite for hosting, the federation has signed a cooperation protocols agreement for technical and equipment support with the five sports of modern pentathlon in Nigeria like the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) Aquatic, Shooting, Fencing and Polo Federation.
He however appealed to the Lagos State government, Corporate Nigeria, philanthropic organisations and the general public to partner the federation by providing the needed financial resources to host a remarkable championship.
He expressed appreciate to the leadership of NOC led by Habu Gumel for their continuous support, which he said has enabled them to develop and build the Federation to be able to earn the international bodies respect to be granted the hosting of these major championships.
“My conclusion is a call to service for all the LOC members present and others whom will be appointed into the various LOC committees to please give their selfless service to this project for which prosperity will reward their show of love to our sports development. Today’s event marks the starts of the journey to welcome the world and Africa to Lagos come December 2017 and we will appreciate your support for our aspiration to position the country as an emerging force in the sport Modern Pentathlon as we hope to have the first Nigerian Pentathlete to represent our country at the next YOG 2018 and Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020,” Nnaji added.