By Andrew Abah, ABUJA
The President of Nigeria Olympic Committee, NOC, Engr Abu Gumel has confirmed that some athletes who participated in the African Games held Ghana have not paid and fear that our athletes at the forthcoming Paris Olympic Games might be in a the best frame of mind to give their all.
This revelation was made when he appeared before the House Committee on Sports on the state of preparations towards podium finish at the forthcoming Paris Olympics.
The House Committee on Sports on Thursday had proposed that the budget for the preparations of Nigerian athletes for Olympic Games should be captured in the budget of the Sports Ministry annually.
The Chairman House Committee on Sports, Hon. Ekene Adams, as one of their contributions to help Nigeria record best performance in the Olympics, clamoured for better welfare and preparations of athletes by making funds available in the budget in each year for podium finish.
When asked about the readiness of Nigeria athletes and their chances to win medals at the Olympic Games in France, Gumel revealed that, for an athlete to compete favourably with the best in the world and win medal at the Olympics requires four-year program. He cited lack of funds as a major set back why some of the athletes struggle to compete with others in the international championship.
The Chairman House Committee on Sports, Hon Ekene Adams along with the members of the Committee however proposed that a bill will be sponsored where funds will be captured in annual budget of Sports Ministry distributed to different Sports Federations for better preparations of Nigerian athletes. READ ALSO:
- NIPC’s initiatives will ensure sustainable economic growth – Aisha Rimi
- Winners emerge for Project Tourism Africa maiden edition
- Tiwa Savage on Tolani Soneye’s Podcast Says ‘My Son will be proud of me’
- Sanusi: Radical Emir In A Conservative City
- ECOWAS gives Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger six months to reconsider withdrawal
Addressing the media, the Chairman of the Committee, Hon Ekene Adams said, “we invited the NOC to know the level of preparedness for the Olympic Games and know if there is any challenge they are facing and how we can help them solve it such that Nigerian athletes will have total focus when competing for medals. We want to do everything possible in making sure that Nigeria record the best performance in France.
He added “We have identified funding as a major challenge and one of the way to solve the problem is to sponsor a bill where budget for preparations of athletes for Olympic Games will be captured in each year. The funds will then be disbursed to the Sports Federations by the Ministry to ease their tasks when chasing qualification tickets in different international competitions across the world
