Kogi have begun preparation for the 17th edition of the Nestle Milo Basketball Championship for Secondary Schools in Nigeria as the state hosts the Confluence Conference zonal play-offs billed for April.
The Director of Sports at the State Ministry of Education, Mr Ezekiel Abraham who spoke after a meeting of school sports’ stakeholders held in Lokoja yesterday, said the emergency gathering was in quest to discuss ways of planning well for the upcoming competition.
Mr Abraham disclosed that the registration forms for interested secondary schools could be obtained from the office of Area Inspector of Education (AIE) in various local government areas in the state.
According to him, registration for state closes on February 28 and state preliminaries hold from March 2 to 8 while the state finals will take place within March 9 to 14.
He also revealed that the state will host the Confluence Conference from April 22 to 29 which will feature at least 10 schools from the northern region.
Meanwhile, the state have set-up a 10-man Local Organising Committee to fast track the successful hosting of the Confluence Conference which will be the first zonal play-offs billed for April.
The LOC comprise of representatives from the State Ministry of Education, Ministry of Sports, Sports Council, Teaching Service Commission, Basketball Association, Sports Writers Association of Nigeria, National School Sports Federation, Private Schools and others.
Kogi has failed to qualify for the national finals after previously hosting the play-offs three times, an ugly trend they are capable of correcting this time around should they get maximum support from government.
The national finals for the Basketball championship will take place in Lagos from July 27 to August 1.
