Everyone is vulnerable to the coronavirus pandemic, the President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick, has warned.
Pinnick said this in a video message to football fans in the country posted on the official Twitter handle of the NFF.
In the video, Pinnick described the challenges brought by COVID-19 as unprecedented, warning that “we are all vulnerable to this pandemic.”
According to the former Delta Football Association (FA) boss, despite the fame, joy and fortune football has brought to millions of people across the globe, the world must now pause to fight the disease.
“The word is passing through an unprecedented phase of challenges occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Pinnick said. “We all love the beautiful game because it has brought huge joy, fame and fortune. But we must pause and take a deep breathe.”
He also urged everyone to join hands in eliminating the scourge from the earth, calling on people to heed to the instructions rolled out by the government, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other relevant agencies to combat the deadly disease.
“We must not be tired of cleanliness. We must not be tired of staying at home and encouraging others to stay at home,” he explained.
“By doing so, this war would have been 90 percent won. Football is played outdoors in Nigeria , this is not the time to play football regrettably.
“We must be able to wash our hands with soap and water. We must sanitize our environment and ourselves and maintain social distancing where necessary.”
Furthermore, he expressed confidence that with discipline which means a lot more sacrifice, the world will beat coronavirus.
“The watchword at this point in time around is discipline,” the NFF boss, said. “And we must be able to discipline ourselves. It is a sacrifice because the sacrifice is quite noble. The goal is priceless. We pray for the best.”