The National Council on Sports on Monday approved Nov. 2 to Nov. to 15, 2022 as dates for the 21st National Sports Festival in Asaba, Delta State.
Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, disclosed this in Asaba during the Council’s extra- ordinary meeting.
The minister’s Special Assistant on Multimedia, Toyin Ibitoye, in a statement, quoted the minister as assuring of a befitting festival at “Asaba 2022”.
“This meeting today puts us at the cusp of another National Sports Festival (NSF) which we refer to as our own Olympics.
“The National Council on Sports meeting today has become necessary in order to update Council on developments, and deliberations on issues that concern the hosting of the 21st National Sports Festival which Delta State had earlier won the rights to host in November 2022.
“Interestingly, Delta State came first at the recently concluded Edo 2020.
“Now, we are happy that they have the opportunity not just to host, but to validate their first position,” Dare said.
The minister said the ministry has been working closely with Delta State to fine-tune preparations for the bi-annual festival.
“Arising from the award of the hosting rights to Delta State, the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development has continued to engage the Host State on the need to fine-tune the road map in preparation for the NSF,” Dare added.
He commended Gov. ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State for his immense contribution to sports development in the state and Nigeria as a whole.
Dare stressed that the feat achieved by the nation at the just concluded Tokyo Olympics won’t have been possible without the 12 athletes adopted by the governor under the ministry’s Adopt-an-Athlete initiative.
”He single-handedly adopted the largest number of athletes and we are glad that out of the two medals we won, one of them was won by one of the athletes adopted by the governor. That is Ese Brume,” the minister said.
Dare said as part of efforts to upgrade the Festival, the ministry in collaboration with the office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF), has established a Department that is solely responsible for the Festival and Para-Sports.
Gov. Okowa, in his remarks, thanked the minister for the opportunity to host the Festival, promising to not only surpass the standards of Edo 2020, but make the 21st edition of the games, the best in its history.
The highpoint of the event was the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the hosting of the games by Gov. Okowa and the minister.(NAN)
