by crossriverwatch admin
The Minister of Sports, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, yesterday inaugurated a 24-member Main Organizing Committee (MOC) for the 19th National Sports Festival (NSF) slated for Calabar, Cross River State next year.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony inside the Media Centre of the National Stadium, Abuja, Abdullahi noted that Nigerians all over the world will be eligible to participate in the Cross River 2014 games.
“It will be recalled that after 2012 Lagos National Sports Festival we discovered that NSF was no longer fulfilling the basic objectives that necessitated its establishment in 1973. It therefore became critical for us to review the objectives and content of the festival,” the Minister said.
“Over the years, this idea of the NSF has not been met; we therefore, decided working with various stakeholders across the country that starting with the 19th NSF in Calabar in 2014 it will become an Open National Sports Festival (ONSF).
He therefore, enjoined the MOC headed by the National Sports Commission (NSC) Director- General, Hon. Gbenga Elegbeleye, to work assiduously toward achieving the objectives of the ONSF for the growth and development of Nigerian sports
Responding, the MOC chairman stated that 2014 marks 100 years of amalgamation of Nigeria with Calabar as the first Capital of Nigeria.
For this reason, Elegbeleye assured that the MOC would work closely with the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) to make the festival an important segment of the centenary celebration.
Prominent members of the MOC include the deputy governor of Cross River State, Barr. Effiok Cobham; Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) president, Engr. Sani Idanusa; NSC Director of Facilities, Engr. Shehu Ibrahim; Dr. Bolaji Ojo-Oba, Alhaji Mustapha Muhammed and Tony Ohaeri among others.
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