Accra, Oct. 25, GNA - The National Sports Council (NSC) has gone cup in hand to the corridors of political and financial power, seeking about 3.5 billion cedis to organise the next edition of the National Sports Festival.

Though the Festival had been conceded to the Northern Region, hope appears to be waning due to lack of funds for the Competition, which is supposed to offer a platform for young, budding Ghanaian athletes to showcase their talents.

The festival also provides an opportunity for Ghanaian youth to meet and fraternise and foster national integration, which is relevant to the growth and sustenance of peace and unity in the country. Revealing the uncertainty surrounding the organization of the Festival, Prince Ernest Oduro Mensah, Chief Executive of the NSC said all the paper work on the Festival had been completed and forwarded to the appropriate quarters for consideration and approval. He said the only obstacle between the Council and the Festival was funds and affirmed that as soon as money was released, a definite time table would be announced for the Competition. Prince Oduro Mensah said the Northern Regional Administration and its people were very much enthused about hosting the rest of the country and were keeping tabs on him regularly to ensure the Festival did not remain in abeyance.
On the Council's plans to improve the standard of sports in the country, the CEO said there was the need to build capacity for those in charge of developmental processes to strengthen them to draw up and implement effective measures to lift sports higher. He said he had succeeded in getting better working condition for the staff of the Council so as to attract qualified personnel to accept jobs with it and contribute positively to an accelerated development of all disciplines.
Prince Oduro Mensah said the Council had devised a training programme for coaches, which would soon be implemented to produce many more coaches who would be sent to the districts to discover and nurture talents from the grassroots, adding that such coaches would be bonded to remain with the Council for a stipulated period.