A renowned sports administrator and Patron of Nigeria Olympics committee, NOC, Alhaji Ibrahim Galadima has advised the Federal Ministry of Youths and Sports Development against rushing to stage the 2020 National Sports Festival.
It will be recalled that a few weeks before kick-off, the sports festival tagged ‘Edo 2020’ was postponed just as every other sporting activity due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Although a series of meetings have been held by critical stakeholders, no new date for the National Sports Festival has been decided.
Speaking to Daily Trust yesterday, the former Chairman of the then Nigeria Football Association said apart from the fear of COVID 19 pandemic which had forced the cancellation of major sporting events around the world, not many states would be able to attend the festival due to financial constraints.
He substantiated that most states are presently over-stretched financially and might find it difficult to sponsor their contingents to Edo State for the games.
“I think one has to give credit to the government of Edo State for doing so much before the sports festival was postponed.
“We know that the covid-19 crisis was responsible for the postponement otherwise the state was ready to host the Games.
“But again some states may not be able to fund the festival because of the economic hardship they are going through. They may not be able to fund their contingents.
“And again the issue of security should be looked into. After the September 19 elections in Edo, we don’t know the possible outcome. Again the universities are still closed and I don’t see the possibility of them being closed again for the festival to hold,” he said.
The Kano-born administrator, therefore, urged the ministry to shift the Festival to 2021.
“We should take a cue from other countries who postponed their games till 2021. They should not rush the country into hosting the festival as we may not see a good number of states attending and this may not be good enough for us,” he advised.
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