Paris 2024 Olympic,: Team Nigeria’s N12 billion Zero Medal performance, FG, Peter Obi, Kuti, Adeyanju, others, cries foul
By Abdulgafar Oladimeji
Nigerians have continued to wail over what they described as the terrible performance by the country’ s contingent that were on parade at the just ended 2024 Olympic games hosted in the French capital city, Paris.
The gong of disgust have continued to sound out from people from all walks of life, in Nigeria, they are all decrying the huge investments that failed to see the country’s athlete mount the podium at the games.
Not left out in the loud cry are politicians, sports journalists, music stars, youths, civil society leaders, sports administrators, on air personalities and public analyst.
A frontline activist, Deji Adeyanju in a missive titled “ OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT TINUBU: A CALL FOR THE SACK OF SPORTS MINISTER stated that “ I write to express my outrage and disappointment at the woeful performance of Team Nigeria at the Paris 2024 Olympics.”
He further said “This debacle is a direct result of the incompetence of Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Enoh, who has consistently showed a lack of preparation and unwillingness to learn from the experiences of those before him.
Adding that “ On resumption of duty, the Minister had promised a lot but has failed to implement the National Sports Industry Policy, abandoned sports facilities across the country, and demonstrated a lack of understanding of the sports sector.”
Adeyanju who chronicled Team Nigeria’s woeful performance at the largest sports fiesta on earth said “The recent Olympics were marred by disqualifications and controversies, including: Favour Ofilli’s unregistration for the 100m due to a administrative negligence of the LOC appointed by the Minister;
Further alleging that the disqualification of the 4x100m relay team due to crossing the lane, a direct indictment on their level of preparation;
He said Team Nigeria suffered due to athlete eligibility issues due to poor documentation and registration;, saying there were accreditation issues for coaches and athletes;
In his words “ The lack of adequate preparations for our best performing team, D’Tigres, who were not allowed to join the opening parade due to negligence by officials, and forced to travel over eight hours by road for their first match;
Also citing “Lack of proper equipment for athletes, leading to a team member borrowing a bicycle.
Labour Party Presidential candidate at the 2023 presidential polls in Nigeria, *Peter Obi in his reactions, released via his X handle said “I have it on good authority that some injured athletes, not physically fit to represent the country and not competing in the ongoing Olympics, were there in Paris receiving estacodes from our national resources. Some of the sports officials and others who have no reason to be at the Olympics were there too, living large and feeding fat on the estacodes while our nation was crashing out on every sporting event.
“One of our athletes, Ese Ukpeseraye, had to borrow a bicycle to compete at her sporting event! How can one sensibly explain such recklessness and infamy? What a shame
Nigeria’s Afrobeat singer Seun Kuti fumed over the failure of the country’s government to invest in the sports sector attributing the woeful performance by Team Nigeria at the Paris Olympics to poor sports spendings .
He criticized Nigerian government In a viral video on social media, Seun Kuti said “I watched the Olympic games. look at how poorly we performed. How many sports are we competing in? I saw that it was only sports that did not need investment that Nigerians participated in. We only did sports that needed minimum investment.
“You know, to play football, you need a ball, post and net and in some places, boys would use slippers to create a goalpost. But in sports that need things like rackets, basketball courts, rims and nets where you can’t easily improvise, we weren’t there. We competed in track and field events because it is easy to do running. But we are never in sports that need equipment.
“Nigerians know all these sports and bet on them so how much would it take to create a good league and gift the winners 25 million dollars? Let there be a minimum of a million dollars per year, after all, this is what boys are earning in Europe.
“Nigerians are unable to enjoy their children’s talents, all our big superstars. Which other shows do they play in Nigeria? I was watching the Olympics and I saw a lot of people with Nigerian-sounding names doing incredible things for other countries.
“If Simone Biles can be that great, imagine how many talents are wasting away because people will not invest in gymnastics and train our children.”
Nigeria’s sports minister, Johm Enoh expressed displeasure over what he also described as poor performance by Nigerian contingent to the fiesta.
He lamented that Nigerian sports sector is ripe for total overhaul to fit into the modern global sports trends.
Enoh, while calling for a purge of the sector had blamed poor preparations for the unfancied outing by the Nigerians at the games, adding that there should be swift action to address the anomalies in the country’s sports sector.
