An 11-man committee has been set up to inspect all health facilities for the postponed National Sports Festival in Nigeria.
That was one of the key notes of the virtual meeting that the sports minister, Sunday Dare held with relevant stakeholders on the fiesta which was postponed from its original date two months ago owing to the global outbreak of Covid-19.
According to information from the Media Unit of the office of the minister, the virtual meeting had in attendance, the Deputy Governor of Edo State, Philip Shuaibu who is also the chairman of the Local Organising Committee for the fiesta.
No date has been agreed upon to hold the festival in Benin even as the Edo State Government reinstated readiness.
” We are ready to host the festival, but other states may not be ready. The issue of health is something that we all take seriously. Isolation centres have been further expanded to bigger capacity.
“We have set up many testing centres that would screen athletes before and after games”, the chairman of the LOC remarked.
The sports minister however remarked that the meeting was called to chart a new course for sports as it is being done globally.
“Our final decision will be based on consultations with the Ministry of Health and the National Task Force on Covid-19”, the minister concluded.
Representative of the Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Sports, Paul Bassey suggested that a health committee should be set up to work with the NCCD and the Ministry of Health to determine the possibility of the Festival taking place.
On the issue of a new date for the festival, there was no agreement on when it is most appropriate as suggestions came that it should hold before the forthcoming governorship election Edo State election,.
There were however dissenting voices that called that it should be held after the election. The governorship election is due to hold on 19th September 2020.
