Youth Development and Sport Minister Sunday Dare says there are six states bidding to host the next National Sports Festival in 2024.
Dare said this after watching a gymnastics competition at the Stephen Keshi Stadium Indoor Multi-Sports Center, Asaba, in the ongoing 21st NSF.
Dare added that he confirmed that the committee led by Tony Nelsen responsible for choosing the next hosts will present its report on Friday.
“There is a process. By December 9th, my director, Tony Nelsen, will introduce me to the host state, but until then I won’t be able to reveal it to you. They are working on the evaluation and scoring before deciding.
“When we had Edo, Edo set a standard. It is a change of baton. When we had Delta, they knew they had to meet the same standard as Edo or do better.
“So we made the point that whatever state was hosting it should be ready. After Edo State, we established a committee to review the MoU. Therefore, before any state commits, there are clear terms and once you sign them, you must abide by them. That is very important, but this time we will announce the winner and then we will keep the runners-up close to our chest,” he said.
Dare added that there was a contingency plan in place in case Delta couldn’t host and that there were already six states fighting to host the next NSF.
“We knew at any given time that if Delta didn’t make it, Abuja was ready. At this point, there are six states jostling each other and interest is growing. There is a time line. We know when a state is not ready and if that happens we will just switch to the runners-up,” she said.