By Hananeel Jackson
Mixed reactions have continued to trail the postponement of the 20th National Sports Festival in Benin City.
The Fiesta which was earlier scheduled to hold in March this year was shifted to the 6th to 18th of December due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus Pandemic.
The Presidential Task Force on COVID 19 lifted the ban on contact sports in October, 2020 and that paved the way for the Ministry of Sports and Edo State Government to come up with December 6th to 18th date for the Edo 2020 Festival.
However, with the latest development, the much awaited Festival will no longer hold this year.
The development has already thrown up some issues as many States in Nigeria had commenced close camping of their athletes before the announcement of the shift on Tuesday.
In separate reactions with Radio Nigeria, some analysts described the postponement as unfortunate especially for athletes who have been in camp for over one year.
A journalist Mr.George Ameli said using COVID 19 pandemic as a reason to move the National Sports Festival to an indefinite date has shown that those at the helm of affairs are not working with sincerity of purpose.
He explained that while the PTF is postponing the National Sports Festival, Senatorial Bye elections would be taking place in eleven states in the country.
Another Journalist, Mr. Patrick Ndubuisi noted while other countries were working out modalities to curtail the spread of the pandemic with the full return sporting activities in order to boost their economy, in Nigeria, government was reluctant to give the nod for a return of contact sports describing the situation as pitiable to athletes.
Mr. Ndubuisi noted that he expected the government to be strict with athletes with the compliance of COVID 19 protocols rather than shifting the event to an unknown date.
A coach Mr.Ebenzer Atayero said he was not surprised with the postponement due to the recent rising cases of the novel coronavirus, stressing out that the decision to put on hold the biggest sports showpiece in the country was for the safety of the athletes.
He advised athletes to take solace with the postponement and to see the situation as a temporary setback.