2020 National Sports Festival host to be announced during 19th edition

2020 NSF host to be announced during FCT edition   By Amaechi Agbo   The host of 20th edition of the National Sports Festival, NSF, will be announced during the 19th edition of the festival which will commence in the federal capital on 6th of next month. According to information gathered, the organising committee of the 19th edition of the festival have sent out expression of interest letters to states to declare their interest to host the next edition. It is expected that states would use the period to assess their readiness to host the biannual event so as to ensure that the sports festival runs seamlessly without hitches or hiatus as witnessed from 2012 when the festival went on unplanned break after Lagos State hosted the last edition that year. “We are sending out letters of expression of interest to states this week and that is the normal process. When we send it out to states, normally we get four or five states that are willing to host it. Then we set up a bidding committee that will go to those various states to look at the sports facilities they have and now come out with their reports. We have commenced the process and hopefully before the closing ceremony we will get a host,” the main organising committee secretary, Mrs Hauwa Kulu-Akinyemi, stated in an interview. She also explained that sponsors of the festival are doing their best and debunked rumour making rounds that they have not shown concerted efforts in the festival. “The sponsors are ready and they are doing their bits. There are so many things in the pipeline that I cannot say here now but don’t forget that there a lot of things to be done during the festival. They have started work in their own way. For instance, I saw one billboard in Lagos about the NSF recently and it was beautiful. “They are also working on the tracksuit and the going around of the Touch of Unity across the country. We just finished North Central and we are moving to North East and from there we will move to South East. They are contributing and we hope that they do more. “We signed an agreement with them to partner with us to drive these games. And don’t forget that we plan for festival for two years but they came in few months ago and this is a trial moment for them to feel the environment and also look at the economic implication in terms of expenses. So it is a learning process for them. However, it is too early to do a final assessment of their efforts,” she said. FCT was announced as host of the 19th edition of the National Sports Festival in February this year following the withdrawal of the hosting rights from Cross River State. The 19th edition of the NSF will commence from December 6 through 16, 2018.