How Nigerian sports finally surrendered to killer COVID-19
After intense pressure from Nigerians, the federal government on Tuesday, March 17 announced the indefinite postponement of the 20th National Sports festival as a precautionary measure against further spread of the deadly coronavirus.
The outbreak of COVID-19 was first identified in Wuhan, Hubei, China, in December 2019 and recognised as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 11 March 2020. As of 18 March, more than 220,000 cases of COVID-19 have been reported in over 150 countries and territories, resulting in more than 8,900 deaths and 85,000 recoveries.
Since coronavirus is highly contagious, sporting activities which usually attract huge gatherings are therefore hit by postponements and sometimes outright cancellations as the world battles to contain the fast spreading epidemic.
For instance, the Premier League, Serie A, La Liga, Bundesliga and Ligue 1 which are the top five football leagues in Europe were promptly suspended when the virus sneaked into the clubs.
Apart from club football, UEFA also postponed till 2021, the prestigious EURO football championship which would was to hold from June 11 to July 11.
The Confederation of Africa Football, CAF, also responded by suspending qualifiers for the 2021 AFCON as well as its inter-club competitions like the Champions League and Confederations Cup.
FIFA itself has just announced the suspension of the revamped club World Cup.
In addition, other prominent sporting events like the NBA in the US, the French Open which usually opens the grand slams in tennis and the US Masters, the first men’s golfing major of the year, have been postponed,
The season-opening Australian Grand Prix was also called off along with the races in Bahrain and Vietnam, with the start of the season set to be pushed back to June.
Furthermore, the opening four races of the
MotoGP season in Qatar, Thailand, the United States and now Argentina were called off.
The Qatar race was cancelled, while the other three have been moved to later in the season, which is now due to get under way in Spain on May 3.
Indeed, it has been a total lockdown for sports in the world over COVID-19 fears.
However, while the rest of the world submitted to the deadly virus, sporting activities continued in Nigeria to the shock of many who know exactly the consequences of such audacity.
Obviously, the feeling that the killer virus was not yet rampant in the country and could be controlled was responsible for this risky
behaviour. However, as the country failed to close her air and land boarders, cases of COVID-19 gradually increased as there are now reported cases even outside Lagos where the first case was reported on February 27.
Consequently, government then decided that to avoid further spread of the virus, the 20th edition of the National Sports Festival which was billed to commence tomorrow, March 22 in Edo State should be postponed indefinitely.
The announcement which came exactly four days to the commencement of the ‘Nigerian Olympics’ left some athletes and other stakeholders disappointed but it was also a great relief for many who saw serious danger in going ahead with the National Sports Festival.
Considering that over 11,000 athletes and officials were to converge in Benin City for ten days, many who saw the event as a potential breeding ground for the virus commended government for postponing the sports festival.
A former member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Lumumba Dah Adeh while reacting to the postponement said “It is a commendable decision because even in the west where they have all the sophistication, they have suspended almost every sporting event.
“They have just shifted Euro 2020 Championship to 2021. So I think what the federal government has done concerning the National sports festival is commendable.”
Another renowned sports administrator and former Chairman of the Imo State Sports Commission, Mr. Fan Ndubuoke also said the decision to suspend the festival is commendable.
He, however, wondered why it took government so long to take the decision as he noted that by delaying the decision to suspend the sports fiesta, the federal government placed economic consideration far above the health and well being of its citizens.
“We know that we don’t have the capacity to handle this epidemic, if it gets out of hand in Nigeria. Do you know that from South to the North, we don’t have testing kits?.
“While other countries are banning flights into their country, closing their borders, we are here relaxing as if we have the best medical facility in the world. To me we took a long time in postponing the festival because the decision should have been taken a long time ago,” said Ndubuoke
However, considering that the 36 states including the FCT had already concluded preparations for the National Sports Festival, some of the stakeholders who spoke to Trust Sports didn’t hide their disappointment even as they also acknowledged the wisdom in the decision by government.
A coach with the Katsina Sports Council who spoke on anonymity said “The postponement came hard on the athletes and coaches but it is a move in the right direction given the health implication of going on with the games in such condition.”
On his part, the Cross River State Commissioner for Sports, Mr Offu Aya told our correspondent that the health of athletes was more important than the festival.
He, however, wondered why it took government so long to make the announcement.
“The state has spent money, paid in advance for buses to convey athletes to the games and also bought some sports equipment and then someone is coming to tell you that the festival is not holding again.
“The spirit was already high that today, some of the athletes were leaving, naturally, you know how anybody will feel about such situation but as sports men and women, they have taken it in good faith, I urge them not to be demoralised,” said Aya.
The Benue State Director of Sports, Comrade Philip Nongu also said he does not want to make public comments on the postponement as official communication from the national level was yet to reach the state.
“But, we were ready for take-off. We were well prepared,” he said.
One of the coaches, Godwin Apuu, said they were well prepared for the games to win many medals so as to make Benue proud before the news of the postponement broke. Now I feel so disappointed,” Apuu added.
As if they were all waiting for the National Sports Festival to be postponed, sports federations in Nigeria have followed suit as they also shut down on-field activities with those in charge saying they would continue to monitor closely the situation on ground.
The first to close shop after the postponement of the National Sports Festival was the Nigeria Football Federation which announced on Thursday night that all football activities were shut down for four weeks.
According to the country’s football –governing body, the shutdown affects all on-field activities the various National Teams, the Nigeria Professional Football League, the other Leagues, youth football programmes and even street football.
President of the NFF, Mr. Amaju Melvin Pinnick said the cessation will be for four weeks after which the situation will be reviewed in line with events and trends worldwide.
Shortly after the announcement by the NFF, the League Management Company also announced the suspension of the Nigeria Professional Football League, NPFL, till further notice.
In suspending remaining league matches, the LMC said it would review the decision after consulting the nation’s health authorities, namely, the Federal Ministry of Health and the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
The Athletics Federation of Nigeria also said “Following the postponement of the 2020 National Sports Festival, the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, AFN, wishes to announce the postponement of all athletics competitions in the country. The postponement is with immediate effect.”
The Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development too suspended all national and international competitions including qualifying tournaments for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
It is therefore, apparent that after dilly-dallying, Nigerian sports too has seen the need to go into isolation as the world tries to contain the latest scourge called COVID-19.