Director General National Sports C o m m i s s i o n , Gbenga Elegbeleye, has told New Telegraph that nothing will change the date of the National Sports Festival scheduled for April in Calabar, the Cross River State.
The NSF had already suffered a setback after the competition was postponed from its earlier date of October/November in 2014 to the new date in April. Reacting to insinuations in some quarters that there might be yet another postponement due to the change in government some states will experience immediately after the national elections, Elegbeleye said the states would surely have enough time to prepare after the elections.
“The elections hold in February and the sport festival will be coming up in April, we have a gap of two months between the two events, so I don’t see any reason why we have to postpone again,” he said.
Speaking further, he said there was the need to stage the NSF on time especially with the closeness of the All Africa games. Elegbeleye said with the coming of professionals for the NSF, it would be an opportunity to select the best athletes that would represent the country at the AAG.
He said: “It (the NSF) will be like trials for some sports to see which athletes are good enough to represent Nigeria at the AAG. “The nature of this year festival will afford us the opportunity of accessing some of our top athletes and the upcoming ones. “It is only from competitions that you will know those who are ready; those that excel will be called to camp immediately as there won’t be any break at all.”
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