By El-Amisty Nobo
Executive Director of Olympafrica Foundation, Alassanne Diack has laid down the guidelines for funding various projects under its umbrella.
Speaking to the press in Accra on Wednesday, May 17, 2017 Mr. Diack who is on a visit to Ghana to assess the countries proposal towards its version of the Olympafrica Foundation project explained what goes into the assessment.
“The aim of the project is to improve the quality of the lives of the people there [where the project is cited] and the success is based on the fact that we don’t come and impose our ideas on the federation, but rather sit down with the people to seek from them what they really want so that we assist,” he said.
“For instance, the local people in Amasaman [where Ghana’s Olympafrica centre will be constructed] must express their interest whilst we access and see if it is okay before finally approving it,” he added.
As at 2005, thirteen centers [13] had been built in various parts of Africa, but the number has increased to 44 now.
Below are the countries where the Olympafrica centres can be found:
Lesotho, Cote d’Ivoire [Soubre], Togo, Liberia, Niger, Sao Tome, Mali [Bamako], Mali [Markala], Congo Brazzaville, Tanzania, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Uganda, Comoros, Chad, Somalia, Mozambique, Eritrea, Senegal [Somone], Senegal [Gandiave], Nigeria [Port Harcourt], Nigeria [Lagos], DRC, Sierra Leone, Cameroon [Akoko], Burundi, Sudan [Sahafa], Sudan [Omdurman], Sudan [Kordufan], Swaziland, Seychelles, Ethiopia, Malawi, Zambia, Rwanda, Guinea Bissau, Mauritius, Benin, Zimbabwe.
Apart from the 39 fully built centers, four [4] others; Cote d’Ivoire [Sassandra], Guinea, Cameroon [Kousseri], Zimbabwe [Epworth] are under construction whilst the one in the Central African Republic is on standby.
Mr. Dick however, warned the local federation will justify every dollar that will go into the project.
“Any money that we spend must be justified. If one dollar is not justified, then they are in trouble because I can lock the account at the IOC anytime so we can be very good friends but we don’t joke with money”
“This is OlympAfrica money, this is ANOCA money, this is IOC money, and this is sponsors’ money. We’ll make sure that whatever penny is spent here is for the benefit of the people,” he cautioned.
He further explained that the focus of the ANOCA goes beyond just sports.
“We have more monies and responsibilities, but we don’t only focus on sports. We have built schools for pupils, factories, farms, motor-taxi companies and other initiatives that we inculcate into our projects to make sure that nobody is left aside,” he noted.
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