The Nigeria Directors of Sports Forum on Thursday appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently resuscitate the hosting of National Sports Festival.
The Chairman of the Forum, Tunde Kazeem, made the call on Thursday in Ilorin, Kwara State while speaking at the Joint Technical meeting of the third edition of National Youth Games.
Kazeem said Nigeria’s standard in sports was falling because the country’s Olympic has not been hosted since the 18th edition in Lagos in 2012.
He said: “We are not happy that the 19th NSF has not seen the light of the day.
“The Minister should brace up and ensure that the 19th edition of NSF happened this year.
“We appeal to President Buhari to bail the country out as far as the hosting of NSF is concerned.
“We want President Buhari to give an immediate intervention to the 19th NSF.”
The former Badminton National Coordinator appreciated the National Assembly for working on a law that would establish the National Sports Commission.
The Kwara State Governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, while declaring open the meeting, said grass root sports development was key in nurturing young athletes to stardom.
Ahmed, represented by the Commissioner for Sports and Youth Development, Bolakale Ayo, urged the meeting to work out ways to make the youth games a success.
Ahmed said the National Youth Games was providing an effective platform for talent identification at the grass root level to achieve excellence in sports.
The Governor described the state as home of grass root sports development in Nigeria, saying that government’s commitment had yielded in winning laurels in age grade competitions such as Handball, Badminton, Squash and Table Tennis.
No fewer than 28 states took part in the meeting that was held at the Banquet Hall of Government House, Ilorin.
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