
The Federal and Enugu state governments have signed the Host State Agreement in respect of the 2026 National Sports Festival billed to hold in the South East state.
The agreement, which was signed by the DirectorGeneral of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Hon. Bukola Olopade for the Federal Government and Governor Peter Mbah for Enugu State, yesterday, now awarded the state the full hosting rights for the 2026 edition of the National Sports Festival.
Speaking at the signing ceremony at the Government House, Enugu, Mbah thanked the Commission and other sports stakeholders for the confidence reposed in the state and his administration to stage the event, assuring that it would discharge its hosting responsibilities in a way that would leave a lifelong memory and experience on the athletes and all lovers of sports in Nigeria and beyond.
“We also appreciate the value and significance of this award.
I want to commend the Commission for finding Enugu worthy of being the next host of the 23rd National Sports Festival. We are going to discharge ourselves creditably.
“As you know, we like to be a role model as a state that gained pre-eminence over 115 years ago.
We will not want to let our forebears down. We will live up to that standard.
“We have already set forth at dawn. Immediately that announcement was made, we mobilised our team.
We are already working on re- vamping the Awgu Games Village and a whole lot. We have decided to deliver a brand new Games Village. We are also completely renovating the stadium.”
Earlier in his address, Hon. Olopade said the Commission was encouraged by Enugu’s bid, available facilities, improved security in the state, and Governor Mbah’s determination to turn around the sports and social infrastructure to grant Enugu the right to host the event after the 22nd edition to be hosted by Ogun State.