ABAKALIKI – Sporting activities have waned considerably at the Abakaliki Township Stadium as a result of fear of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.
The stadium which usually records a lot of sporting activities especially in the morning now records low turnout of people engaging in exercises.
A NAN correspondent, who visited the stadium, noticed that some of the people, who regularly visited there in the morning to engage exercises, no longer come. NAN investigation revealed that the few people who come, now train individually instead of in group as they did in the past.
Most of them also shun the usual practice of exchange of banters during and after training sessions.
In interviews with NAN, they said that though there had been no reported case of the disease in Ebonyi, they needed to be careful.
Kevin Nnaji, a banker, said that the fear of the disease would not make him to stop ‘walking-out’ at the stadium.
“The fear of Ebola will not deter me from undergoing my daily morning walk-out, but I now train with utmost caution. [eap_ad_1] “My wife tried to dissuade me from attending the sessions but I insisted on going, but I train alone and minimise contacts with people,” he said.
Chinwe Ononye, a youth activist, who suspended her training routines at the stadium, said that he was scared of the EVD.
“There is no way I can avoid possible contacts with people at the stadium because I engage in group exercises which involve body contacts.
“I have to be cautious because the disease has been reported in neighbouring Enugu State, and one cannot facially detect those who have come in contact with victims,” he said.
Okechukwu Mmegwa, a footballer, said that his local club was preparing for a competition and could not suspend training because of the Ebola fear.
“League matches went on across the country over the weekend despite the Ebola scare..
The Secretary of the Ebonyi Sports Council, Mr Hillary Ubesie, told NAN that the council was not responsible for the developments. “This is individual decisions. Sporting activities are still going on at the stadium; nobody is under compulsion to train there.
“We are not bothered about those who no longer train inside the stadium,
“We should be propagating the message of preventing the spread of the virus, “he said.
The Ebola Virus Disease came into Nigeria through a Liberian-American, Patrick Sawyer, who arrived Lagos through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport on July 20 and died five days later.
Since the incident, four persons, including the late Sawyer, have died of the disease in Nigeria. (NAN)
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