By Uzor Odigbo
Nigeria’s Sports Minister, Sunday Dare, has announced that the 20th edition of the National Sports Festival slated for Benin City later this month has been postponed.
According to a tweet from his twitter handle, he announced that a meeting between the Ministers of Health, himself and a few other experts “just concluded now at the Health Ministry to review the COVID-19 situation vis-a-vis Edo 2020 Sports festival towards making decision on the postponement. A final decision will be communicated shortly.”
In another tweet, which followed two minutes later, he emphatically announced: “Edo Sports Festival to be postponed. Details coming …”
Barely 10 minutes later, the confirmation emerged: as the minister put up a third tweet:
“Following the briefing of Mr. President from myself and the Minister of State for Health on COVID 19, Mr. President approved the immediate postponement of Edo Sports festival to a future date
This would be the first major postponement of sports a gathering in the country since the outbreak of the disease.
Other nations have since cancelled or outrightly moved theirs forward in order to contain the virus ravaging most part of the world.