By Amaechi Agbo

Abeokuta, Nigeria – The Enugu State Government is proposing to host the 23^rd edition of the National Sports Festival (NSF) in September next year.

Chairman, National Sports Commission, Alhaji Shehu Dikko disclosed this on Sunday during a world press conference to update Nigerians and the global community on the ongoing 22^nd edition of the festival in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

Responding to a question asked by a journalist, Amaechi Agbo on the date of the next festival, the NSC Chairman noted that the Commission is streamlining the festival to hold in November/December every Sports Festival year.

Mr Dikko also expressed optimism on Enugu State’s readiness to host the “Nigerian Olympic Games” stressing that the Commission is in regular talk with the state about the hosting.

“We are working on streamlining the National Sports Festival to hold in November/December during the Festival year. We need to have a standard in this regard to help us maintain the festival. Apart from that, hosting it during November/December will help us to avoid bad weather due to rain.

“Enugu State is ready to host the next edition of the festival nest year. In fact, they are proposing to host in September and that tells you their preparedness. We are in regular touch with the state and we will continue to work collaboratively to ensure that the standard set in Ogun is improved upon,” he said.

On awarding the hosting rights to states ahead of time, the NSC chairman stated that states are already bidding to host the 2028 and 2030 editions of the Festival adding that the commission will announce the hosts for the next two editions after Enugu 2026, very soon.

The Federal Government and the Enugu State Government signed the hosting rights agreement in January and the state Governor, Barr Dr Peter Ndubuisi Mbah declared the state’s readiness to revamp sporting facilities in the state and host a world class festival.

“As you know, we like to be a role model as a state that gained pre-eminence over 115 years ago. We will not want to let our forebears down. We will live up to that standard.

“We have already set forth at dawn. Immediately that announcement was made, we mobilised our team. We are already working on revamping the Awgu Games Village and a whole lot. We have decided to deliver a brand new Games Village. We are also completely renovating the stadium to brand new.

“We are making sure that by the time you come here by the end of this year, you are going to be highly impressed. It is not revamping, rebranding or re-equipping, but we are also going to build additional facilities to the existing one. We are looking forward to having a word-class experience befitting the sports men and women, making our hosting a lifelong memory and experience,” he stated.

The State government has earmarked over 13 Billion for renovation of facilities including the Nnamdi Azitiwe Stadium and Awgu Games Village ahead of the 23^rd edition of the National Sports Festival.