The prestigious All Africa Music Awards, AFRIMA has been postponed.

The PUNCH reports that the African Union Commission and the International Committee of the All Africa Music Awards recently announced the ‘deferment’ of the 2020 edition of the All Africa Music Awards, AFRIMA, to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

According to a statement by the organisers of the ceremony, the decision to suspend the seventh edition of the awards ceremony which had earlier been scheduled to hold for over five days in Nigeria between December 2 and 6, 2020, was reached after several months of monitoring the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic and careful consultations with AFRIMA Stakeholders on the continent and around the globe.

The statement read in part, “The African Union Commission and AFRIMA further state that the cancellation brings with it great opportunities for future awards planning and preparation by utilising the digital platforms and gains the new normal has thrust upon the world of concerts, conferences and festivals, some of the activities which make up the annual AFRIMA event calendar.

“The health and safety of the community of AFRIMA stakeholders is of utmost importance to us. Many of our awards nominees and delegates travel from different parts of the continent and from other parts of the globe each edition and fully understanding the risks involved with such movements, the suspension of the 2020 edition of AFRIMA is the only prudent course for us. We work day and night each year to ensure we provide a world-class and safe awards event.

Now, we are focusing all of our efforts on making our future events even better. We hope that the world will be able to take adequate action, and that the spread of the virus will soon be contained.”