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The 22nd National Sports Festival themed ‘The Gateway Games Ogun 2024′, originally scheduled for January 12th, has been rescheduled to May 16th to May 30th, 2025.
This announcement was made in a communique released following the Joint Technical Meetings held in Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun State, on Thursday.
The Secretary of the Main Organising Committee (MOC), Thecla Opara, stated that the postponement was deemed necessary to implement several technical committee recommendations to ensure a world-class festival.
However, the joint committee urged the Main Organising Committee Secretariat to revise the Games timeline and disseminate the updated information to all relevant stakeholders.
“The committee agreed that in order to give some time to effect the observations and recommendations from the Joint Technical Meeting, the dates for the 22nd National Sports Festival should be adjusted to May 16-30, 2025; and the Zonal Eliminations for Team Sports for the Games would hold from February 23-28, 2025,” the communique reads.
Addressing journalists on the development after yesterday’s meeting, the Director General of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Bukola Olopade, alluded to the need to factor in other elements in the game preparation.
“The communique is clear but what the communique did not capture was that the Ogun state government and the Local Organising Committee were vehemently against any postponement. But in the wisdom of the Technical Committee and the Main Organising Committee, they felt there were so many elements that needed to come together for us to give Nigerians the new definition of sports economy and ecosystem as defined by the President; there was a need to push it forward.
“We are excited that we have a new date. This gives us five months to properly put everything together and show the whole country what capacity is all about,” he said
The technical committee chairman, in his remarks, noted that the facilities on the ground needed upgrades to meet international standards as set by the committee.
“Technically, we looked at the facilities, and as professionals, we want something that would be peculiar and nearer to the Olympics.
“So looking at all the facilities put on the ground by the Ogun state government, we felt that it would be better for the facilities to be properly fine-tuned to meet the standard so that our athletes would enjoy and not manage,” he added.
