Edo Ready To Host 2020 Festival, Officials Insists

– Officials have insisted that Edo is ready to host the 2020 festival

– The festival has been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic

– But some officials who spoke with The Punch said they only need a go ahead to kick start the event, as all was already in place even before the postponement

The Local Organising Committee of the Edo 2020 National Sports Festival are confident the state can host a befitting competition if they get the approval to stage it this year.

Recall that Minister of Youth and Sports, Sunday Dare, in March, announced the indefinite postponement of the festival, which was initially scheduled to hold from March 22 to April 1, in Benin City, due to the lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

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.

A member of the festival’s media committee who spoke with The Punch said: “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,

“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.”

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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.

Speaking also, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Dr. Osamwonyi Irowa, and Secretary to the Local Organising Sub-Committee (Medical) said, “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.

“We’ve got all the medical equipment needed for the event ready, what we’re waiting for is the word go.”