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Home Motor Sports FIA Empowers ATCN to Organize Motorsports Nigeria

FIA Empowers ATCN to Organize Motorsports Nigeria

…As Nigeria Starts Hosting Championship from Mid-2019

Automobile and Touring Club of Nigeria(ATCN)  has been delegated with the sporting power by Federation  International  de  l’ Automobile (FIA) , the governing body of Motorsport worldwide to start organizing motorsport activities in Nigeria.

Prior to the approval, effective from December 2018 by the General Assembly of FIA, the club has been given various opportunities to carry out effective and productive campaigns in different states in Nigeria and had hosted the 3rdFIA African Sport Regional Congress 2017 at Transcorp Hotel in Abuja, where the future of Motorsport in Africa was discussed, FIA Action for Road Safety, 4th U.N. Road Safety week in Keffi, Nasarawa state, where 60 drivers were trained. They had also hosted events in Niger in 2016, Ekiti in 2014, Abuja in 2013, 2014,2015 and 2018 respectively.

Speaking during a Press Conference on Monday 21st January 2019 at Guruna  Viceroy Indian Restaurant, Akin Adesola, Victoria Island, Lagos, the President of ATCN, Ishaku Bamaiyi said, ‘’ with the delegation of FIA sporting power , we are empowered to organize all forms of Motorsport activities, issuance of all racing licenses for local and International events( with exception of super license that covers FIA Formula 1) and prepare Nigerians for the International Olympic Committee (OIC)  come 2020,’’ adding, ‘’ we shall bear in mind safety for drivers and spectators.’’

According to him, safety is the most important part of motorsports and our events must meet best International practice in accordance to the FIA ASN Development Manual.

Bamaiyi said, ‘’ we have agreed with FIA Secretary General for Sport to start a championship by half of 2019 of any aspect of Motorsport discipline of our choice. However, we  would present our framework to them by April of 2019 in South Africa.’’

‘’ We have started working on the framework but we cannot share the information  at this point but we assure we have a development plan with motorsport activities and dates, which is a five years plan for motorsport development in Nigeria,’’ he stressed.

On effort made so far, he said, ‘’ the FIA Vice President for Sport, Automobile Club of Ivory coast, Automobile Association of Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania as well as Automobile & and Touring Club of  United Arab Emirate(UAE) have all agreed to support and encourage us with the development. This is the time for Nigeria to take its place in the world of Motorsport because the country has got a lot of potentials in motorsport.’’

‘’ It is our desire,’’ he said, ‘‘to organize different motorsport activities among other events to create the culture. However, we shall have such event depending on what we feel is suitable for an area or state. There are states we know will be good with hill climb racing, some might be rallies, off road, circuit; in the meantime, we  will use closed-off public road to create circuits for racing or drag racing as the case may be.’’

‘’ Furthermore,’’ he enthused, ‘’ we shall create our series of championships, motorsport engineers who would build the cars and maintain them. We shall also encourage universities to participate in our events thereby enhancing their various engineering facilities as this will enable us participate in the African Rally Championship(ARC), African Karting Championship and so on. In addition, we are kicking off a development programme that will attract young drivers and potential corporate sponsors. So, with time, young Nigerians will earn salary from as young as six year old because sponsors want to advertise on their racing kits and vehicles.’’

Bamaiyi said, ‘’Some of the FIA Motorsport events we’ d like Nigerians to participate in the nearest future are , FIA Formula 1, Formula 2, Formula 3, CIK-FIA Championship, World Touring Car Championship, Formula E and FIA world Rally Championship.

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