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The Lagos State Sports Endowment Fund (LSSEF) has finalised plans for Sunday’s Nigeria Independence Corporate Run.

Anthony Oni, a
retired Rear Admiral in the Nigerian Navy and chairman of the fund
disclosed this yesterday in Lagos at a meeting of ‘stakeholders’, which
took place at the Press centre of the Teslim Balogun in Lagos.

In attendance at
the meeting were officials of Lagos State Traffic Management Authority
(LASTMA), Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Lagos State
Ambulance Services (LASAMBUS),

LAGBUS Asset
Management Limited and medical and sports medicine officials who are
all expected to be on duty during the race, which flags off by 8am at
the Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos.

Oni said about 1000
entries have been received and processed with more still coming in. He
said the number included chief executive officers of leading corporate
organisations in the state. One of these he said, is Kehinde
Durosinmi-Etti, CEO of Skye Bank who will be joined by Adesegun
Ogunlewe, Head of Service of Lagos State Government and officials of
sponsors of the race, Zenith Bank and Chevron.

“We expect a full house of executives to show up on Sunday,” he said.

Akin George, a
sports medicine specialist with the Lagos State Government said a team
of medical personnel would be on hand to attend to any emergency that
may crop up during the race.

“We are ready to
respond to any situation that may arise. We hope there are no serious
issues that would be dealt with but I want to assure the public that
arrangements have been made to respond to any development during the
race,” George said.

The independence
run is expected to flag off by 8am on September 18 at the Tafawa Balewa
Square (TBS) in Lagos, the venue of the official handing over of power
from the British to Nigerians.

From there,
competitors will run through Ahmadu Bello Way and turn off under the
bridge for the final stretch of the road, which will terminate at
Atlantic City on Victory Island.

The Lagos State Sports Endowment Fund was set up in 1990 by the
administration of Raji Rasaki. It went moribund for several years until
it was resurrected by the government of Babatunde Fashola.