Para-athletes block Lagos road to protest exclusion from sports festival

Some para-athletes have taken to the streets of Lagos to protest their exclusion from the 2022 national sports festival (NSF).

According to NAN, the protesters sealed off a section of the road leading to the National Stadium in Surulere on Wednesday.

The 2022 NSF will be hosted by Delta from November 28 to December 10.

TheCable earlier reported that Sunday Dare, minister of youths and sports development, said an invitation had been extended to Ghana, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Benin Republic and Sierra Leone to present teams that will participate in the tournament this year.

Joseph Babalola, a wheelchair basketball athlete and the spokesperson of the protesters, said the move by the ministry triggered the protest.

He added that the protest will continue till Friday unless the ministry intervenes.

“We have athletes in wheelchair basketball, wheelchair tennis, and deaf sports, and they can’t participate,” Babalola said.

“Indeed, this is wrong, with nearly two weeks to the beginning of the festival.”

The protest comes a few months after the maiden edition of the Para-sports festival was held in Abuja in April, with the second edition expected to take place next year and thereafter, every two years.