By Ben Efe
Track and field athletes and coaches have been left scrambling to adjust their programs following the postponement of the National Sports Festival billed originally for January.
Citing slow pace work on facilities and need to “reflect the new direction of sports in the country and also provides more time for the implementation of recommendations made during the joint technical meeting,” the National Sports Commission said the sports fiesta will now hold May 16-30 2025. Abeokuta Ogun State remain the hosts.
“It’s a huge disappointment because the coaches will need to reprogramme the athletes again especially for the athletes specific for the festival,” said Solomon Aliyu who is the Athletics Coaches Association of Nigeria.
He noted that being the first NSF to be organised by the newly inaugurated NSC under Shehu Dikko as chairman and Bukola Olopade as director-general, athletes and coaches are looking forward to seeing new innovations and better organised competitions.
“The coaches and athletes will appreciate if this next festival will be better organised than it used to be in the past to justify the postponement.
“I don’t want to preempt the NSC planned initiative towards the NSF in terms of organisation etc.
“But what I know is that the DG, is a goal getter and have no room for failure. The chairman of the NSC is also not a stranger to our sports; these are two heavy weights and I believe with good synergy they will bring about the desired change we are all craving for in our sports and I can only wish us sports men and women all the best of luck as we all journey through this path to success.”
