Worried by the indefinite postponement of the National Sports Festival, Ojo Adelusi, a former President of the Nigeria Wushu Kungfu Federation, said on Friday that the non-staging of the games was hampering athletes’ development.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the biennial Games was last held in 2012 and have suffered at least five postponements.
Lagos State hosted the Games, tagged: “Eko 2012,” while Cross River State was scheduled to host in 2015.
It was, however, postponed because of the 2015 general elections.
Adelusi told NAN that the sports festival over the years had helped to identify talents, who had represented the country at major international competitions.
Adelusi said: “It is sad that the sports festival has been postponed several times and we can all see the effect of the postponement on our sports.
“We are not discovering talents as we should as a nation even those discovered in the past are not engaged in any competition.
“Failure to stage the festival since 2012 is partly responsible for our poor performance at Rio Olympics.”
Adelusi urged the Sports Ministry to do the needful by bringing back the festival.
He said: “I think any state that is ready to host the games should be given the opportunity to do so rather than not staging the festival.
“I know there are states that can host the games in spite of the current economic situation.”
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