National Sports Festival to now hold January 3 to 17

The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on Covid-19 has approved January 3-17, 2021 for the National Sports Festival, Edo 2020.

The new date was arrived at during a virtual a meeting on Thursday, convened by the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, which reviewed circumstances around the recent rescheduling of the sports fiesta.

However, a consultant to hosts Edo State noted that the final date can only be certified by the host as that is the standard practice.

“When states are named host they are only given the year; they will then pick the exact convenient date. Now we don’t know if they have other events already billed for that period,” he said.

The new date is to allow the PTF, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Edo State Government and the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development to complete the necessary steps and processes, as assigned, to ensure a hitch free Festival and deployment of rapid diagnostic test kits for over 11,000 athletes.

The virtual meeting had in attendance the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Permanent Secretary Ministry of Youth and Sports Development,   PTF National Coordinator – Dr. Sani Aliyu, PTF’s Deputy National Incident Manager/ Head of Operations – Dr. Assad Hassan, Representatives of NCDC, amongst others.