BEVERLY HILLS, March 20, (THEWILL) – The Honourable Minister of Youth and Sport Development, Sunday Dare, has confirmed that the 20th National Sports Festival (NSF) to be hosted by Edo State will go ahead as planned but under strict COVID-19 protocols, from Friday, April 2 to Wednesday, April 14 after the series of postponements it suffered due to the pandemic.
The minister also said that the reduced 8,000 athletes and officials for the Games would go through all the necessary COVID-19 health and safety regulations as mandated by the Presidential Task Force when the games Camp opens on the second day in April.
The assurance of these comments came after a facility tour of the venue and meeting with the Edo State governor Godwin Obaseki. Joshua-Akanji, who passed across the statements of the minister said the minister also confirmed that President Muhammadu Buhari himself will, on Tuesday, April 6, officially declare the Games open.
To this end, the Sports Ministry was working with all health stakeholders to ensure that the COVID-19 safety protocols were observed and that the inoculation of those taking active part in the sporting activities was given the highest priority ahead of the commencement of the games.
Dare said: “We are working closely with the PTF, NCDC and others to ensure that the necessary support we need in terms of vaccination of athletes, test kits will be available.
“We are also toning down the number of athletes that would be participating from 14,000 to 8,000. I must thank the governor and his deputy for taking the lead on this.”
The Minister covered the issue of athlete accommodation by saying that the University of Benin had been secured to host the athletes: “We have been able to get the University of Benin to host our athletes.
“There is still some work to be done here which may not be on the radar, but everything is on track I can tell you with certainty that the Edo National Sports Festival will hold.”
That confirmed assurance was the outcome of fruitful discussions between Governor Obaseki and his deputy on the one hand and the minister on the other on hosting a befitting NSF despite the challenges and roadblocks that have held it back for a long while.
“After meeting with the governor and his deputy, we are reassured that we are on track to host a successful National Sports Festival. All obstacles have been cleared, we are ready for a great festival. The event is coming at the most auspicious time when we are preparing for the Olympics,” the minister remarked.”This is our local Olympics and we shall make the most of it, the President has given his nod for the Festival to take place, there’s no going back.”
As THEWILL covered previously, the NSF has suffered numerous postponements since March last year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic despite the acclaimed readiness of the Edo state government to go ahead with the games. Several states have also incurred losses due to camping, feeding, moving and supporting their sportsmen and women preparing to represent them.
Regarding the issue of financial support from the government, Dare explained that a special presentation had to be made to President Buhari for funds to support Edo after the Governor declared that the state lacked the resources to host the festival after the effects of the coronavirus on the preparations.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
