The the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, Mr. Nebeolisa Anako has said that the Federal Government decided to offer lifeline to the Edo State Government in the best interest of sports development and to safeguard the future of the athletes.
“The Festival suffered several postponements due to Covid -19 and other unforeseen circumstances which we had no control over. The Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development as the Organiser of the National Sports Festival could not sit by and allow things to go wrong. The Minister had to make special appeal which led to the intervention of the Presidency with an assurance of financial support to the Edo State Government which is in it final processing stage.
“The games are not under threat. There was an Information gap earlier but the Games are ongoing and we assure you there won’t be any hitches till the closing ceremony of the National Sports Festival,” the Permanent Secretary said praising the high standard performance by the athletes.
According to him, “the future looks very promising. We saw a very great opening ceremony and look forward to a grand closing ceremony as well”.