Date: 2017-04-08

Ademola Are, Director, Grassroots Sports Development, Ministry of Youth and Sports, says that states that will feature overage athletes at the National Youth Games (NYG) will be fined N50, 000 per athlete.

Are, who made the disclosure to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abuja, said that the technical committee of the Games would monitor to ensure compliance and enforcement.

The NYG is slated to hold at the University of Ilorin in September.

"Only U-17 athletes will be allowed to participate in the Games and any state that is found wanting will pay a fine of N50, 000 per athlete. "There is no compromise on it. The directors of sports have agreed that the rule must be enforced.

"The meeting with the secretaries of various sports federations is an off-shoot of the meeting with directors of sports to make sure that the secretaries are up and doing.

"We want them to be responsible for the actions that will be taking place in Ilorin," he told NAN.

"The secretaries are to ensure that overage athletes are not used for this competition, and if this happens, they will be held responsible as well as the states that these athletes represent.

"They are to ensure the proper organisation of their sports at the University of Ilorin, we don't want any lapses," he said.