Kwara State has the capacity to organize the National Sports Festival – Ibrahim Bako

The sports director of the state of Kwara, Mallam Ibrahim Bako, has expressed his confidence that the State has the necessary facilities to successfully organize a future edition of the National Sports Festival.

Speaking with journalists from the Zonal Elimination Series of the National Center for National Games in Morin, Bako emphasized that Kwara’s state is still a center for sports activities in Nigeria.

“The National Youth Games is a competition played among young people throughout the Federation. The sports eliminations of the national team are classified into areas such as the Central North, which is where Kwara’s state belongs,” he explained.

Currently, the elimination series is ongoing with the participating states, including Kwara, Niger, the territory of the Federal Capital (Abuja) and Kogi, while Benue State is still expected. The competition officially began on Saturday morning after the completion of the detection exercises.

Bako revealed that the event, previously scheduled to end on Sunday, has spread for a day due to the late arrival of some contingents. Consequently, the game that was originally planned for Monday has moved to Tuesday.

He praised the executive governor of the state of Kwara, Mallam Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, for his support in making it possible for the State to be the host of the games.

“We must appreciate and thank his excellence, Kwara’s executive governor, Mallam Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, for making it possible for the State to be the host of the National Youth Games on the current,” Bako said.

Highlighting the sports infrastructure of the State, he said that the Ilorin stadium complex can only conveniently accommodate more than 30 different sporting events.

“As you can see, people from all over the country come to Kwara because they believe that Kwara is a sports center, where all activities can take place conveniently within the stadium complex,” he added.

Although he affirms that Kwara has the ability to organize a National Sports Festival Corde, Bako acknowledged that host rights for the 2026 edition have already been granted to the State of ENUGU.

The North Central elimination series serves as a qualification stage for athletes and teams that seek participation in the next National Youth Games, a base competition designed to discover and develop young sports talents in Nigeria.

Publication views: 26