The National Sports Festival (NSF) will tentatively hold in Calabar, Cross River State from November 8 to 21.
The decision was made known on Sunday at the Technical session of the Extra Ordinary National Council on Sports held in Calabar.
Delivering his opening address at the session, the Chairman of the National Council on Sports and Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung, welcomed the 35 state Commissioners for Sports as well as the Directors of Sports to the session.
Dalung charged the Commissioners to get their various state governors to invest in sports development.
“Any government who fails to invest in the development of sports and facilities will harvest crime. Government spends so much money on security and on other issues but government has failed to realize that if they invest in sports, a lot of other problems would have been taken care of. Government in Nigeria must redirect their efforts toward sports development. I am using this opportunity to call on all state governments in Nigeria to prioritize sports,” Dalung said.
The Minister also called on the Council to give Cross River state the opportunity to host the National Sports Festival which has been postponed twice since 2014.
Dalung warned that where Cross River State is unable to host the Festival in November, then a back-up plan must be put in place to avoid another postponement.
“You’ll recall that Cross River state could not host the festival due to the transition period which halted many projects in the run-up to the general elections last year. This year, you’ll have no reason not to host the games. The influx of tourists and the benefits of hosting a Games of this magnitude cannot be overemphasized. I urge you to do all within your power to ensure that this festival does not suffer another postponement. We will support you in the necessary areas,” the minister assured.
Responding, the Cross Rivers State Governor, Professor Ben Ayade, who was represented by the Commissioner for Sports, Comrade Asu Okang, restated the state’s commitment and readiness to host the festival.
“Having gone round on an inspection tour of facilities, you can see that we are almost ready to host the festival. We have the best hospitality in the country, our swimming pool is the best in Nigeria and we are looking toward to host the best sports festival ever,” Okang reiterated.
The technical session, which had the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Mr Chinyeaka Ohaa, as chairman, also resolved that the National Sports Festival will be open to all ages and all Nigerians domiciled in Nigeria. Each athlete and official will be expected to pay the sum of twelve thousand five hundred naira to participate.
States who place first to third on the medals table shall benefit from sports infrastructural development and/or equipment which shall be built and provided before the next edition of the festival.
The council was also invited to approve the introduction of a National Sports Festival for people with hearing impairment (Deaf sports).
