Greenfield Assets Limited is set to put the
National Sports Festival (NAFEST) right back into its initial state with possible feature appearances from the World’s fastest man,
Usain Bolt, Nigerian music icon,
2Baba, and other top sports and music stars.
NAFEST
NAFEST which was formerly hosted by the federal government in a bid to harness indigenous sports talents and develop
athletes saw a downturn with lack of proper funding and organizing, consequently the plan of the government bore no fruits and it was high time the hosting and sponsorship of the festival was given a ‘private firm’ touch.
Greenfield Assets Limited took over organizing and sponsorship of the event in order to reinforce indigenous sports and further develop homebred talents for
world-class competitions.
Minister of Youths and Sports Development, Solomon Dalung, made this known on Wednesday in Abuja while stating that efforts of the federal government to harness indigenous sports talents and develop athletes through festivals have not yielded the desired results so far:
“Greenfield will mobilise other sponsors and resources for festival. There are lots of business opportunities in the event. FG still retains ownership of the franchise.”
– Dalung
In response to taking up sponsorship of the festival Managing Director, Greenfield Assets Limited,
Paul Obanua, said the private firm already have plans in motion to revive the festival, and if all works out just fine, NAFEST could be a yearly event:
“We will take the festival from its comatose state to a profit making event. It will be viable to athletes, officials, sponsors and the federal government through deliberate efforts.
“We will start to organise pre-fest from August ahead of the festival in December, where foreign celebrities and Nigerian celebrities will perform together in Nigeria. We intend to have Usain Bolt, 2Face and other celebrities sensitising the world about the event.”
— Obanua.
