The shift has meant that the dates for the Local Government and Constituency trials would also be adjusted

Slight adjustments have been made to the programs leading up to the maiden edition of the Niger Delta Sports Festival with the extension of deadline for registration from 28 February to 7 March.

In Tuesday morning's daily briefing to members of the Technical Committee and States Liaison Committees, the Co-Chairman of the Technical Committee, Enefiok Udo-Obong, attributed the extension to a surge in requests from states affected by the National Sports Festival (NSF) zonal qualifiers.

"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.

The shift has meant that the dates for the Local Government and Constituency trials would also be adjusted.

Udo-Obong informed State Liaison Committee members that they would be provided names of registered persons in their state and the Sports entered for on 9 March

"Consequently, all Federal Constituency/LG trials would take place between the March 11- 15, 2025", concluded the Tuesday morning memo to the Committees.

The Olympics gold medalist told NDSF Media that the adjustments will not affect the festival schedule, assuring that "We are still within our schedule to start the trials and open the festival on 1 April 2025".

The NDSF is the first Sports related intervention project of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and it coincides with the commission's 25th anniversary with the theme, "beyond oil, Harnessing talents".

Over 3000 athletes competing for medals in 17 sports are expected from the nine NDDC mandate states