The ‘rising tension’ mounting ahead the 2026 National Sports Festival, tagged Coal City Games, may be resolved on Monday in Abuja.

Several issues have cropped up following the reduction of sports from 40 to 15, sparking threat of boycott from some states. The Forum of State Directors of Sports/General Managers in the country, some Northern states as well as South-South states had kicked against the reduction, describing it as an attempt to kill sports development in the country. They want the National Sports Commission (NSC) to return the traditional sports, as well as some Olympic Sports and Board Games, earlier removed from the festival.

The Guardian learnt on Friday, that the NSC has invited all Directors of Sports across the country to a meeting in Abuja on Monday to, among other things, review the stand taken at the last Council of Sports Meeting in Calabar, Cross River State.

“I can’t speak on this issue now because the NSC has invited all Directors of Sports for a meeting in Abuja on Monday to deliberate on it,” one Director of Sports told The Guardian on phone. “I am sure some of the decisions taken at the Council of Sports meeting in Calabar that led to reduction of number of sports for the Coal City Games may be reviewed because a lot of people have kicked against it”

Some of the ‘protesters’ have alleged that the NSC did not align with the resolution reached at the Calabar meeting, where it was allegedly agreed that State Directors of Sports would be actively involved in the decision-making process regarding the selection of sports for the Festival.

Niger State Sports Commission chairman, Abdullahi Masu, described as ‘unjustifiable and detrimental to sports development’ the decision by the NSC to reduce the number of sporting events from 40 to 15, noting that northern states, including Niger, have already invested significant resources over the years in training athletes for the now-excluded events.

He argued that the decision would marginalise the region, which traditionally has a comparative advantage in several team sports.

But the Director General of the NSC, Bukola Olopade had maintained that to host the National Sports Festival is expensive and the NSC is only trying to make things easy for the host states.

“This is not new. Even at the Olympics Games level, the number of sports were reduced, and there was nothing like protest,” Olopade told The Guardian in a phone chat during the week.

“We can no longer accommodate all these ball games in the National Sports Festival. We have asked president of the affected sports federations to come up with two of three yearly programmes, which the NSC is ready to support financially. You don’t need to wait for the National Sports Festival before you organise events for your federation.”