The Edo Government, hosts of the ongoing 20th National Sports Festival (NSF) in Benin, will shut down the 13-day event by 12 noon Thursday, an official said late Wednesday.
Musa Ebomhiana, Project Manager with the Media and Communications Sub-Committee of the festival’s Local Organising Committee (LOC), said the decision was necessitated by Federal Government’s refusal to fulfill a promise.
He said the Federal Government failed to support the state with funds as promised, and the state government had no choice other than shutting down the festival.
The decision was taken after an emergency meeting of the festival’s Local Organising Committee (LOC) headed by the Edo Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu.
“You can quote me, that we just finished from an emergency meeting of the LOC, and as I speak with you we have decided to shut down the festival by 12 noon tomorrow (Thursday).
“The decision was arrived at because the Federal Government has reneged on its promise to assist the state with funds.
“Because of that, we are closing the festival,” Ebomhiana stated.
He however did not disclosed how the LOC was going to shut down the festival.
Our correspondent could not get the reaction of the festival organisers, the Main Organising Committee (MOC), to this development as at the time of this report.
It could not also get the reaction of the festival’s owners, the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development