Nigerian home-based Olympians urge Sports Minister to honour $1,000 training grant promise
Home-based athletes who represented Nigeria at the 2024 Olympics in France are appealing to the Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Enoh, to fulfill the promise of a $1,000 training grant.
Despite assurances from the Minister that all financial obligations would be settled before the athletes left France, discrepancies in the disbursement of funds have emerged.
In independent interviews conducted by BSN Sports, several athletes and coaches revealed they had not received their full entitlements. This has highlighted a significant disparity in payments, leading to growing frustration among the athletes.
One home-based athlete shared their concerns: “We received two million, one hundred and seventy thousand naira (N2,170,000) as training allowance and six million, two hundred thousand naira (N6,200,000) as an appearance fee for the 2024 Olympics. However, the $1,000 training grant has yet to be paid.”
Another athlete added, “I have not received the training grants for my two-week training in Germany, but I can confirm receipt of the training allowance and appearance fee, totaling eight million, three hundred and seventy thousand naira (N8,370,000). I understand professional athletes were paid $5,000 as training grants, but I’m yet to receive mine.”
BSN Sports also managed to speak with a foreign-based athlete, who, under the condition of anonymity, disclosed, “This is a top secret; we were instructed not to discuss money matters with anyone. I received $4,000 as an appearance fee for the 2024 Olympic Games, while others received $4,500 as training grants. However, some athletes are still waiting for their payments.”
Further investigations revealed that while foreign-based athletes were expected to receive $5,000, home-based athletes were promised $1,400 as training grants. In addition, each athlete was to receive funds covering training grants for their two-week training period in Germany, training allowances for expenses incurred during Olympic qualifiers, and appearance fees.
Repeated attempts to obtain a response from the Ministry of Sports, including messages to the Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Enoh, the Director of Press, Kehinde Ajayi, and the Special Adviser on Media to the Minister, Diana, have gone unanswered.
The athletes continue to hope for a resolution, urging the Ministry to address the discrepancies and honor the commitments made before their departure for the Olympic Games.
