During a daily briefing on Tuesday morning, Co-Chairman of the Technical Committee, Enefiok Udo-Obong, explained that the extension was prompted by an increase in requests from states impacted by the zonal qualifiers of the National Sports Festival (NSF).
"Dear Gentlemen and ladies, due to the request of a lot of States and the participation of States at the zonal eliminations for NSF, we have decided to make some changes to our calendar.
"Registration would now be extended by a week and would close on the 7th March 2025", Udo-Obong stated.
As a result of this change, the dates for the Local Government and Constituency trials will also be modified.
Udo-Obong informed the State Liaison Committee members that they would receive the names of registered participants from their states and the sports they entered by March 9, 2025.
"Consequently, all Federal Constituency/LG trials would take place between the March11-15 2025", he concluded in the memo to the Committees.
The Olympic gold medalist assured NDSF Media that these adjustments would not disrupt the festival's timeline, stating, "We remain on track to commence the trials and officially open the festival on April 1, 2025."
The NDSF marks the first sports-related initiative by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and aligns with the commission's 25th anniversary, themed "Beyond Oil, Harnessing Talents."
More than 3,000 athletes are anticipated to compete for medals across 17 sports from the nine states under the NDDC's mandate.