The Local Organising Committee of the Edo 2020 National Sports Festival are confident the state can host a good competition if they get the nod to stage it this year.
In March, Minister of Youth and Sports, Sunday Dare, announced the indefinite postponement of the festival, which was initially billed to hold from March 22 to April 1, in Benin City.
But with the recent ease on social and sporting activities across the country, athletes are optimistic that the event can hold this year.
Senior Special Adviser to the Edo State Governor on Sports, Sixtus Omokhagbor, says everything is in place to host a befitting sporting fiesta.
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“We are very ready to host the National Sports Festival. If not for the pandemic, the event would have taken place.
At the moment, our athletes are training and we are sure of hosting a very interesting and seamless sports festival,” Omokhagbor, a member of the festival’s media committee, told our correspondent.
“The 11-man committee set up by the minister confirmed the state’s readiness, and pending any unforeseen situation, they gave the state a pass mark.”
The 11-man committee was made up of members of the COVID-19 Task Force, NCDC, commissioners of sports from the six geo-political zones and representatives of the sports ministry.
“The state was virtually ready before the postponement in March and all the facilities we had are still very much in place.
A lot of funding has actually been put into the project pending when the exercise will be reaccredited for taking off,”
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Dr. Osamwonyi Irowa, and Secretary to the Local Organising Sub-Committee (Medical) said.
“We’ve got all the medical equipment needed for the event ready, what we’re waiting for is the word go.”
