National Sports Festival postponed to May 2025

The National Sports Commission (NSC) has postponed the 22nd National Sports Festival to May 2025. 

In a statement on Friday, NSC said the postponement was announced by the joint technical committee of the games after a meeting on Thursday.

The festival, tagged ‘2024 Gateway Games’, was initially scheduled to take place in Ogun from January 12 to 26, 2025.

The event has been rescheduled to be held from May 16 to 30, 2025.

NSC said the festival is postponed to “reflect the new direction of sports in the country and also provides more time for the implementation of recommendations made during the joint technical meeting”.

The zonal eliminations for team sports are scheduled to be held from February 23 to 28, 2025.

Bukola Olopade, director-general of NSC, said the extra months will help the commission prepare better for the sports festival.

He also announced the Invited Junior Athletes (IJA) initiative, adding that the “young promising athletes will compete as a 38th state” at the event “for the first time in the history of the Games”.

“This would also get the commission to settle down properly. We’re excited for the new date and the extra five months to put everything together and show the whole country what capacity is all about,” Olopade said.

“When you think about the Invited Junior Athletes (IJA) initiative, where young promising athletes will compete as a 38th state, it is a promising move towards fostering development of our best young talents and it’s happening for the first time in the history of the Games.

“It’s a strategy to empower young and promising talents and create a pathway for them to be exposed at the top level. These athletes will compete against established athletes, hoping to upset the status quo. It speaks to the core of what President Tinubu has asked of us to do.”