Guardian Nigeria
The Chairman of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the forthcoming National Sports Festival, Ogun 2025, Chief Bukola Olopade, has made clarifications on why the fiesta is holding next year.
At the recently concluded National Council of Sports conference in Enugu, it was announced that the sports festival will hold in January 2025. Olopade explained saying that no date was ever fixed for the National Sports Festival in the first place. “People just assumed that since the last festival was held in December in Asaba, the next one would also be in December this year. This assumption led to misunderstandings about the festival’s schedule.”
Speaking further, Olopade said: “We are planning to have the best sports festival ever seen in this country, and we are leaving no stone unturned in the process. One of our key objectives is to provide athletes with the best possible experience, and part of that is ensuring they are housed comfortably in one location.” He revealed that there are ongoing discussions with the authority of Babcock University regarding accommodation for the athletes.
“We have been in talks with Babcock University to accommodate the athletes. The university can host close to 15,000 athletes, which would allow us to keep all participants in one place.” However, Babcock University can only make their facilities available in January, which is why it makes sense to hold the festival during that period,” he stated.
“We understand the challenges raised by some stakeholders, but we believe these challenges are surmountable if we work together,” Olopade stated.
