Sports

My Greatest Joy Is Hosting 2020 National Sports Festival-Chief Dare

Published

4 years ago

April 13, 2021

Despite the odds, the challenges the much-awaited Edo 2020 National Sports Festival NSF is done and dusted courtesy of the effort put in place by the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development under the able leadership of Chief Sunday Dare, in this interview he talked about the general overview of the event, the most fascinating games, amongst other.

Can you tell us, your general overview of Edo 2020 NSF?

I think, by and large, expectations have been met as a ministry, the objective of NSF have remained the same as a tool of national unity and also to bring our young talent from across the length and breadth of this country, the 36 states and FCT gathered here and apart from the colorful atmosphere, we have seen the great spirit of sportsmanship, we have seen the great display of talent and skill, we have seen cutting-edge competition among our young athletes.

And we have seen the kind of record-breaking, the excitement from the opportunity to participate, it is incomparable having waited over a year to do it some of them have trained and practice for two years so the opportunity to do the NSF for me it’s important and we have achieved that.

Interestingly, you have been to different centers watching athletes play live games which of them caught your attention?

I watched more than 10 different sports and I am excited this country has great potential and talents when it comes to sports and what is lacking is that of private partnership and private participation in our sports. The government has done enough already and we need to appreciate that.

Nigeria should be one of the top swimming countries in the world, that is also a sport you can easily win the highest number of medals so, the most important is how to develop a swimming program and partner especially if you look at the South and the far North Arugugu fishing festival people swim it’s a natural talent, so we need to really focus on swimming because from the Olympics alone we can get 10 medals that one.

Of course, football is king, I am glad to be here this morning to watch the final female football. Female football is on the rise apart from youth football development, FIFA is committed to the development of female football, and we can say we have arrived when comes to male football.

I have watched basketball it’s terrific, raw talent what validate that more was the fact that, for the record, this country is taking male and female basketball teams to the Olympics

Also, I watched Handball this morning fantastic, wrestling this is where we have world-beater numbers 1 and 2 in the world are from this country, Badminton, Gymnastics skill and talent are endless.

King of them all is track and field Athletic, we saw a lot of talent some of them we invested in them under our adoption of athletes initiative Campaign.

We’ve been founding them, they can pay their coaches, and get the right nutrition they need we have seen that working for us and we are going to intensify on that, we are going to put them together as Olympics team to make sure they are properly funded, I think the future is bright for our sports, all we need is a sustainable model and that is the challenge we have as a ministry to build the sustainable model that grows this talent.

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Sports

A Triumphant Close to the 22nd National Sports Festival

Published

4 days ago

May 29, 2025

The Gleamer

…As organisers promise another spectacle at closing ceremony on Thursday

Joel Ajayi

After 11 days of a true showcase of sporting competition in multiple Sports by some of the country’s top and even promising athletes, the curtain will finally be drawn on what many have described as one of the best ever organised National Sports festivals, when the closing ceremony is held on Thursday at the MKO Sports Arena in Abeokuta.

Whilst the quality of the Games’ opening ceremony is still getting tongues wagging, the entire sporting family and beyond is now anxiously looking forward to what the closing ceremony will look like.

The last 11 days have showcased Ogun state as a true Sporting hub with potential to even do more, with the quality of the facilities built for the games and the enthusiasm of the people who made the various venues their second home in the last few days.

A big testament to this was the history-making crowd that attended the male football final between Ogun state and Kwara State, which the host won by 4-1.

The MKO stadium was filled to full capacity while the crowd outside watching from the big screen reminds one of how much Sports is truly the soul of our togetherness as a country.

From the Alake Sports centre in Ijeja and the Baptist boys high school, to the Obafemi Awolowo square and the Remo stadium both in Ikenne, to the NYSC orientation camp in Shagamu, and the Ilisan town hall in Ilisan, the festival never lacked spectatorship throughout the games.

The Games actually lived up to the pre-tournament hype as both the National Sports Commission, NSC and the Ogun state Government pulled out every administrative capacity to ensure both athletes, officials and the media have an unforgettable experience.

The Gateway Games 2024 had been full of exciting drama and intrigues amongst the states and athletes which led to different new records being set and some old records being shattered.

The festival has also produced for the country some new exciting young talents especially with the shocking performance of the 38th state, the Invited Junior Athletes ( IJA), where they ended up winning some surprised medals to justify the Commission’s establishment of the initiative.

As the Closing ceremony holds on Thursday, the leadership of the National Sports commission, NSC, expresses its profound gratitude to the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Ogun State Government for making sure millions of Nigerian youths see a renewed brighter future in the country through the National Sports Festival.
The NSC Chairman Mallam Shehu Dilko said ” our overwhelming gratitude goes to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,GCFR, for his personal commitment to the development of Nigerian Sports by giving us every support financially and otherwise for the success of this festival”.

” And the Ogun state Governor, Dapo Abiodun also deserves a huge praise for the feat we all recorded with these games. I can’t thank him enough and posterity will surely remember him for good “.

The NSC Director General who is also the Chairman of the Main organising committee of the games, Hon Bukola Olopade also extended his gratitude to all the technocrats behind the scene that are responsible for the successful organisation of the games.

” From all the members of the Main organising committee to the various sub committees, to members of the local organising committees and all our technical officials in the various sports to the media and our athletes, every success that everyone is talking about concerning these Games belongs to you all”.

” Yes it was not a perfect festival because we acknowledged we had also some challenges but let me assure everyone that some of the challenges are already being worked upon ahead of the next Games holding in Enugu state next year”, he concluded.

The Closing ceremony is expected to bring together top Government functionaries to captain of industries while there will also be the rich cultural display of the state as Ogun state will officially pass the barton of hosting to Enugu state for the 23rd edition of the Games come September 2026.

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