LAGOS. Apr 3 (Mail/Internet): The managers complaining about the safety of their players at

the World Youth Championship in Nigeria need only look at the debris scattered along Bar Beach to Witness the real casualties of the event.

The impoverished residents of the shanty town in Lagos have seen their shacks demolished by a joint military and. police operation designed to improve the image of the country before the three-week tournament which starts tomorrow.

The sight provides a sobering and compelling contrast to the posturing from the likes of Coventry manager Gordon Strachan and Leeds United's David O'Leary over conditions in the West African state.

Once their wealthy young footballers have returned home safely, the 500-strong Bar Beach community will begin the lengthy process of rebuilding their shattered lives and homes.

Such is the importance of success for the tournament that the Nigerian authorities consider making a few hundred people homeless a legitimate course of action.

In short, everything has been done to camouflage the endemic poverty, crime and general degradation that threaten to blight Nigeria's moment of glory on the world stage. The visitors must not be allowed to see the true picture.

Car-jackings, murders, street robberies, burglaries and assaults have become a chilling reality on the streets of Nigeria’. Visitors driving alone are warned not to stop al traffic lights because of the inevitable threat of attack and venturing out alone is considered by many to be as good as asking to be robbed.

'Nigeria is a very dangerous place,' said Ken Enisuoh. an authority on the country, whose father was born there. There is a lot of crime like any other developing country but the trick is not to put yourself in positions of danger.

‘The comments from some managers about Nigeria are nothing short of ridiculous. You have to bear in mind that these players are going to be treated like dignitaries, protected by guards, staying in the best hotels with everything done to ensure their safety.

‘They will not get to see the other side of life in Nigeria, the poverty and crime, because they will be chaperoned everywhere they go. Nothing will be left to chance when it comes to their safety because Nigeria wants to ensure the tournament is a huge

success.'

Yet, it is not jus! on the ground where concern is centred. Such was the worry over the safety of using Nigerian airlines for internal flights during the tournament that British Airways agreed to supply two aircraft and crew to carry British teams throughout the

Next to Christianity and Islam, there is no doubt that football is the third religion in Africa's largest country. No Nigerian has forgotten the FIFA decision to strip the country of the 1995 tournament, when concerns over health and security matters forced the event to be switched to Qatar. That is why this tournament must pass without controversy.

In political terms. Nigeria is only just starting to emerge from the worldwide revulsion

over the execution oi writer Ken Saro-Wira and nine other environmentalists four years ago.

The man who ordered the killings. General Sani Abacha. is now dead and fresh hope has arrived with the ousting of the military junta and installation of a democratically-elected government next month.

Yet. the 120 million people of Nigeria are driven not by politics but by football and it is essential the World Youth Championship passes without incident for the global image of the country.

This point was exemplified last month by the country's outgoing military leader General Abdul-Salami Abubakar, when he launched a fierce attack on tournament organisers after a series of power cuts and technical hitches threatened to disrupt the meticulous planning.