El-Rufai, while declaring open the 2018 MIGA in Kaduna, said the state government was very proud of the sports facilities the state has in Kaduna.

“I have appealed to the Main Organising Committee (MOC) to at the end of the games write a report on any shortfalls and gaps on the quality of the facilities.

“I promise to work round the clock to upgrade it and make it up to international standard.

“We want to make this games the most important biennial sports festival in Nigeria.

“We will do whatever we can to invest in the upgrading of facilities to bring it up to international standard,” he said.

El-Rufai advised athletes to compete fair and with their conscience, adding that the best man or woman would always win.

“We hope to discover lots of talents who will represent Nigeria in international competitions,” he said.

Earlier, the Minister of Interior, Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (rtd), had said 60 per cent of Nigerian athletes are professionals from the services and representing the country in various sports.

He assured that the games would be getting better each year and the ministry would do everything to improve on it.

It was reported that the games’ opening ceremony featured a march-past of teams from all the services and a tug-of-war.

Our correspondent reports that among the 2,226 participants expected at the games, 1,410 are athletes, 156 team officials and 24 federation officials.

Others are 155 technical officials, 126 security officials, 45 medical officials, 60 media practitioners and 80 volunteers.

It was reported that the games which started on Thursday will end on Dec. 2.

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