The National Organizing Committee of the National Sports Tourism Conference and Exhibition (NASTOCE) 2026, has announced the postponement and rescheduling of the NASTOCE 2026 now to hold on Tuesday 12th May, 2026, starting by 9:00am, with the Nicon Luxury Hotel, Abuja, venue of the event remaining unchanged. Also affected in the changes is the Award Dinner/Gala Nite which now holds on Tuesday 12th May, 2026, at 7:00pm the same day as the Conference and Exhibition, which makes the Conference and Exhibition a One-Day Event.

Announcing the postponement of the Conference and Exhibition at the NASTOCE 2026 Secretariat in Abuja, Mal. Ahmed Mohammed Sule, Convener and Chairman of the National Organizing Committee of NASTOCE, 2026, noted that all programs and time of activities, including the Theme, Sub-Themes and Time of Position Paper Presentations allotted to Agency Heads as well as Keynote Address of Hon Ministers at the Plenary Sessions of the Ministries Remained Unchanged.

Mal Ahmed said the decision to reschedule the conference to 12th May, 2026 was arrived at after due consultation with Key stakeholders of the event who viewed the late responses from participating Ministries and Agencies, as critical, capable of disabling majority of Ministries and Agencies from concluding on the processes and submissions of their participation, adding that it is hoped that the postponement will give the concerned Ministries and Agencies ample time to process their participation and meet up with the new date.

He expressed the sincere apologies of Members of the National Organizing Committee of the inconveniences the change of date is likely to cause all prospective participants, Guests, Exhibitors and visitors to the National Sports Tourism Conference and Exhibition (NASTOCE) 2026, adding that NASTOCE 2026 which offers the platform for a robust engagement on positioning Sports Tourism for the Socio-economic development of Nigeria is in line with His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda on Sports Tourism development in the country.

With the theme Leveraging on the Inter-Section of Multi-Sectoral MDAs to Promote Sports Tourism in Nigeria, NASTOCE 2026 seeks to focus on the connectivity between tourism and sports as well as the inter-links with other MDAs so as to explore the inherent socio-economic potentials existing in the interface of sports and tourism for the benefits of the national economy.

As a dialogue forum, a number of interesting, critical and thought provoking sub themes to deepen collaborative partnerships between and amongst MDAs in the expected sports and tourism synergy have been lined up with experts, professional speakers and Chief Executive Officers of the respective MDAs billed to make paper presentations on their collaborative roles to achieve the desired synergy for the sports tourism industry to flourish in Nigeria.