Following the death of a Nassarawa United player Chineme Martin during a league match on Sunday the 8th of March, 2020, the Minister for Youth and Sports Development, Mr Sunday Dare, has directed that no game should be played henceforth without the presence of paramedic personnel and equipments at match venues.
This decision was taken after due consultations and calls to relevant stakeholders by the Minister.
A statement from the Office of the Sports Development Minister said, “Henceforth, from March 14th 2020, no league match would take place without paramedics personnel and necessary equipments as provided for in the NFF Club licensing Regulations. This decision was reached to ensure prompt response in the event of any incident during matches.
“We don’t want any avoidable deaths in our match venues or any other sports for that matter.”
Under the arrangement, all match commissioners, host State FAs are to inspect all medical facilities at match venues , test run to confirm that they are working before the commencement of any league game.
Meanwhile, the Minister has offered his condolences to the family of the departed player and his club. He assured that adequate measures would be put in place to forestall future occurrences.
