The National Sports Festival scheduled to be held in January has again been postponed to May 2025.

The 22nd Sports Festival, tagged “Gateway Games, Ogun 2024”, will now be held between May 16 and 30, 2025.

Ogun State, during the closing ceremony of the 21st NSF on December 10, 2022, won the bid to host the festival in November 2024.

Due to some unforeseen occurrence and lack of preparedness of the state, the festival was then postponed to January 12, 2025.

Recall that in October, Governor Dapo Abiodun, while inspecting the ongoing renovation of facilities at the MKO Abiola Stadium, Kuto, and the Ijeja Sports Centre, assured that preparations were in top gear for the festival to be hosted in January 2025.

However, another postponement of the widely anticipated festival was announced in a communique released after a Joint Technical meeting held on Thursday night in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.

The Communique was signed by the Director General of the National Sports Commission, who doubles as the Chairman of the Main Organising Committee, Adebukola Olopade and the State Commissioner for Sports, Wasiu Isiaka.

“The JT meeting agreed that to give some time to effect the observations and recommendations from the Joint Technical Meeting, the dates for the 22nd National Sports Festival should be adjusted to May 16-30, 2025 and the Zonal Eliminations for Team Sports for the Games would hold from February 23-28, 2025,” the communique stated.

The JT meeting also agreed that to guide the state ahead of the Games, the report on the Inspection of the Venues and Facilities of the 1st Joint Technical Meeting will be used as a checklist.

In his remarks, the state Commissioner for Sports Development, Wasiu Isiaka, expressed satisfaction with the decision, adding that the shift in date would enable the state government to further develop the ecosystem for hosting the top National Sports Festival, which will serve as a benchmark in the near future.