The 20th edition of the National Sports Festival, Edo 2020, has now been scheduled for October.
The new date, which has been arrived at after the festival had suffered an initial postponement in March this year, due to the outbreak of the Corona Virus Pandemic worldwide, was announced by the presidential committee set up by the federal government to see to the hosting of the biennial event, which is aimed at discovering and nurturing of local talents to represent Nigeria in regional and international sporting events.
Despite divergent views by members of the National Council of Sports as to the possibility of the National Sports Festival holding this year 2020, the Minister of Sports, Mr Sunday Dare, went on to inaugurate an 11-man committee to inspect all health facilities for the festival in Edo State, so as to ascertain the readiness of the state in hosting the sports festival even in the midst of the COVID-19 debacle.
The committee, made up of members of the COVID-19 Task Force, NCDC, Commissioners of Sports from the six geo-political zones of the country and representatives of the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, after a three-day tour of the state, addressed the press on democracy day and expressed satisfaction at the situation on ground in the state before going ahead to announce the new tentative date for the hosting of the festival.
“We have seen the facilities on ground in the state. We have been to the state specialist hospitals, the University of Benin Teaching Hospitals, the testing centres, the screening centres and the isolation centres. We have been briefed on the ones to be improved upon and the steps the state is taking.