By Emma Jemegah
The Edo State Government said it might be forced to close down the ongoing 20th National Sports Festival (NSF) unless the Federal Government fulfills its counterpart funding of the games.
In a statement released last night on behalf of the Local Organising Committee the Project Manager, Media & Communications of Edo 2020, Ebomhiana Musa, said it took the decision to end the games due to paucity of funds.
The statement reads: “The Local Organising Cittee, Edo2020 regrets to announce that it will end the games abruptly tomorrow, Thursday, April 8, 2021 for lack of funds. (Rising from an emergency meeting this evening, the LOC says it has to take this hard decision due to lack of funds having expended its reserves to kick start the games. Regrettably, the FG is yet to redeem its pledge to support us as the host state financially for the cost of postponements. So, we are left with no option than to end the games at noon tomorrow.” The NSF was to be held almost a year ago but it suffered several postponements due to the outbreak of COVID-19. The NSF was officially declared open on Tuesday.