By Agency Report
Olumide Oyedeji, former National Basket Association (NBA) star, has urged Nigerians to adhere to the preventive measures as the country confirmed the first case of coronavirus.
Olumide gave the advice, on Saturday, at the 2020 Sports Festival of the Africa International College in Abuja.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, had, on Feb. 27, confirmed the first case of coronavirus in Nigeria, saying the patient, an Italian, who works in Nigeria, flew into the commercial city of Lagos from Milan on the evening of Feb. 24.
Also, a Nigerian professional footballer in Italy, Paul Akpan Udoh, was said to become the first Nigerian to be infected by the virus.
Reacting in an interview with NAN, Olumide said: “Everyone should just take care of oneself. Let’s follow what we are supposed to follow; follow the instructions, follow the system and follow the preventive measures.”
According too him, prevention is better than cure and it is better to be proactive than to be reactive.
The erstwhile captain of Nigeria national basketball team, D’Tigers, who is the Chairman, Nigerian Athletes Commission, also admonished athletes in the country to adopt safety measures.
“I am just going to counsel athletes because they are going to mix; they are going to meet people, they are going to be in different environments where they are going to meet many people.
“I am just going to keep praying that God is going to safeguard all and we also have to safeguard ourselves,” he said.
He described the sports festival as a surest way of producing young athletes in the country.
“This is the way you catch-them-young, this is the way you start nurturing talents,” he said.
Pastor Seyi Malomo, Chaplain, Aso Rock Villa, who is the chairman of the occasion, described the event as “very competitive and lively.”
“As the Bible says, ‘Bodily exercise profited little.’ We have seen healthy competition, we have seen the joy of winning and the pain of losing but with a determination to win at another aspect of the competition,” he said.
The clergyman, who said sports was one of the ways to help the youth harness their energy, said it would also help them to contribute to the development of the nation.
Mrs Caroline Yakubu, the Executive Secretary, African International College and Africa Community School, said the event was the third edition of the sports festival.
She described this year’s editions as the best ever organised sports festival of the school.
Yakubu said besides education development, the vision of the schools was to also discover and develop the potentials of the students.
At the end of the competition, the Red House won the race with 573 points while the Yellow House and Blue House were first runner-up and second runner-up with 519 and 474 points respectively.
The Green House took the fourth position with 438 points. (NAN)
