Nigeria’s pre-World Cup friendly with DR Congo will go ahead next week despite the outbreak of Ebola in the latter country, officials have said.
The Super Eagles are set to host the Leopards with the match scheduled for Port Harcourt on May 28.
Nigeria’s Sports and Youth Development minister, Solomon Dalung says the country will take requisite measures to ensure the safety of Nigerians but will not cancel the game.
“They will come to Nigeria in a chartered flight and nobody else will be allowed to arrive in the country for the match through any other means except the chartered flight.”
“Nigeria is going to play the friendly. I have discussed with the Federal Ministry of Health, with the World Health Organisation. We have reviewed the situation and received adequate information about it,” the top official told reporters.
“So, we have agreed on major approaches. The DRC team is coming through a chartered flight and those coming for the match will be using that chartered flight and they would have been screened from their country and they will be screened here in Nigeria. There won’t be any other means of transportation for the match.”
“We also discovered that the Ebola outbreak is limited to a particular place and it has not escalated. So, we wouldn’t want to run the risk of setting a precedent which we will later be a victim of,”
Nigeria are placed in group D with Croatia, Argentina and Iceland. They begin their World Cup campaign against the Vatreni on June 16 at the Kaliningrad Stadium.
🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/ZIXpYw86uV
— The NFF 🇳🇬 (@thenff) January 19, 2018
