The Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare has said the 2020 National Sports Festival tagged ‘Edo 2020’ is ‘almost certain’ to hold this year.
He made this known while speaking with journalists during the unveiling of Nigeria’s 60 sports icons.
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It will be recalled Sports Festival was postponed in March by the Presidency as a measure against the spread of COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
“We are hopeful now that the sports festival can happen.
“The fact that contact sport is back means that there is hope for the festival.
“We will be approaching the PTF with a staggered plan so that we don’t have a concentration of 5000 to 7000 athletes in Benin at the same time.
“It is going to be a longer period of 5 weeks and we will our athletes compete in batches and go back.
“We are glad there is a green light, it is almost certain we will have the festival this year, but we will have to present to the PTF a staggered plan that is detailed that shows we are ready and meets the protocols,” he said.
It will also be recalled that the Festival also known as Edo 2020 was given a provisional October date by a 11-man Presidential Committee set up to determine the feasibility of staging the games this year.
The committee recommended that the games could hold between 25 October and 4 November which is subject to approval by the federal government.
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