The 20th edition of Nigeria’s National Sports Festival, Edo 2020 originally slated for March has been rescheduled to hold in October.
The multi-sport event organized by the Nigeria Federal Government every two years to connect athletes from the 36 states of the federation and discover the ones with special abilities was postponed indefinitely to reduce the spread of coronavirus which also forced global games like the Olympics and Women’s World Cup to be suspended.
In the quest that the sports festival could still be staged before the year ends, an 11-man committee which comprised of; members of the COVID-19 Task Force, NCDC, Commissioners for Sports from Nigeria’s six geo political zones and representatives of the Sports Ministry was formed to inspect the status of health facilities and draw discretion on health risks and management.
The panel on democracy day gave a green light when it disclosed that the facilities and conditions for the festival are in place.
“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.” The 20th National Sports Festival will now hold between October 25 and November 4.
