The National Sports Festival scheduled to be held in January
has again been postponed to May 2025.
The 22nd Sports Festival, tagged “Gateway Games, Ogun 2024”,
will now be held between May 16 and 30, 2025.
Ogun State, during the closing ceremony of the 21st NSF on
December 10, 2022, won the bid to host the festival in November 2024.
Due to some unforeseen occurrence and lack of preparedness
of the state, the festival was then postponed to January 12, 2025.
Recall that in October, Governor Dapo Abiodun, while
inspecting the ongoing renovation of facilities at the MKO Abiola Stadium,
Kuto, and the Ijeja Sports Centre, assured that preparations were in top gear for
the festival to be hosted in January 2025.
However, another postponement of the widely anticipated
festival was announced in a communique released after a Joint Technical meeting
held on Thursday night in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
The Communique was signed by the Director General of the
National Sports Commission, who doubles as the Chairman of the Main Organising
Committee, Adebukola Olopade and the State Commissioner for Sports, Wasiu
Isiaka.
“The JT meeting agreed that to give some time to effect the
observations and recommendations from the Joint Technical Meeting, the dates
for the 22nd National Sports Festival should be adjusted to May 16-30, 2025 and
the Zonal Eliminations for Team Sports for the Games would hold from February
23-28, 2025,” the communique stated.
The JT meeting also agreed that to guide the state ahead of
the Games, the report on the Inspection of the Venues and Facilities of the 1st
Joint Technical Meeting will be used as a checklist.
In his remarks, the state Commissioner for Sports
Development, Wasiu Isiaka, expressed satisfaction with the decision, adding
that the shift in date would enable the state government to further develop the
ecosystem for hosting the top National Sports Festival, which will serve as a
benchmark in the near future.
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