No fewer than 15 states have arrived Benin, the capital city of Edo, for the 19th National Sports Festival (NSF), tagged Edo 2020.
Musa Ebomhiana, a Project Manager in the Media and Communication Sub-Committee for the games, confirmed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Benin.
Ebomhiana said among the 15 states which arrived Benin as at Friday night are Lagos, Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers.
He said more states were expected to arrive Benin today (Saturday) for the festival.
“We have 15 States that have arrived for the festival as at last night and we are expecting more this Saturday.
“We, however, expect that all the 36 States would have arrived before the opening ceremony scheduled for Tuesday.
“Of course, you know issue of logistics and other factors can prevent early arrival of States for the games, but we are hopeful in seeing all the States by Tuesday,” he said.
NAN reports that the 19th NSF have suffered several postponements before it was finally fixed to commence from April 4 and end on April 14.
Meanwhile, while the opening ceremony for the festival have been scheduled for Tuesday, state contigents have however started arriving the Edo since Friday.
NAN also reports that 8,000 athletes, scaled down from the initial figure of 14, 000, are expected to participate in the two weeks fiesta.
