The President of the Confederation of African Athletics, CAA, Hamad Kalkaba Malboum arrived in Nigeria on Sunday for a three-day working visit to the country.
The continent’s number one athletics figure was welcomed on arrival at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos by the Nigerian Olympic Committee, NOC President Habu Gumel, the Athletics Federations President, Solomon Ogba and other sports dignitaries.
According to an AFN statement, the CAA President will be holding a meeting with the NOC President before proceeding to Asaba, Delta State for the second leg of his visit.
On Monday, Kalkaba met with the Governor of Delta State, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa on the hosting of the 2018 CAA African Senior Athletics Championships.
Speaking after he presented a Letter of Acceptance to the visiting President of CAA, Kalkaba Malboum and his delegation yesterday in Asaba, Governor Okowa said that Delta State was ready to host the championship and would plan towards the hosting with the cooperation of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) and the CAA.
“We are happy that the competition will come in 2018, this gives us adequate time to prepare and plan for it, athletics is an area where many youths can be engaged , we are confident that working with AFN…We will have the relevant experience and backing to make the championship a success”, Okowa said.
The African Championships in Athletics is a continental athletics event organized by CAA and the last edition was held in Durban, South Africa.
This is the second-time Nigeria will be hosting the continent’s flagship athletics championship since she did so back in 1989. The championships was originally awarded to Lagos State in Durban last year, but Delta State which is now being touted as a new host of the championships.
After meeting with the Delta State governor, the next point of call for the visiting CAA President will be Port Harcourt where Kalkaba would visit the High-Performance Centre at the Univerisity of Port-Harcourt.
