The 2023 presidential standard bearer of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has berated Nigeria’s sports leadership for the disastrous outing by Nigeria in the just-ended 2024 Olympics in Paris.
Nigeria finished with no medal after putting in billions of naira, where nine African countries won medals.
Reacting, through a statement by his media aide Dr. Tanko Yunusa, Obi said, “Now that the Paris Olympics 2024 has officially ended, and our dear Team Nigeria, despite the huge financial investment made into the project, is returning without a single medal, may I sincerely register my displeasure with the rascality and recklessness that has continued to characterise leadership in our nation, which often portrays our country as a joke, even on the international stage?
“How can one explain that a country like Jamaica spent less than 5% of what we spent on our contingents for the Paris Olympics 2024 and won as many as 6 medals, and with our huge financial investments, we could not win even a singular medal? At least, nine African countries won gold but the giant with over 200m people came home without even a bronze.
“We invested about N12 billion into this Olympics, which is almost twice the amount budgeted for the entire Ministry of Science and Technology for this year’s budget. This is over N136 million (about $85,000) spent on each of the 88 Nigerian contingents to the Olympics, and no singular medal was won while Jamaica, a nation which spent far less than we did, a total of about $2300 on each contingent, won 6 medals; 1 Gold, 3 Silver and 2 Bronze at the Olympics. We must now question how we made this huge investment, without getting any returns.
“Sad stories like these are only obtainable because we have refused to embrace competence and capacity over favouritism in Nigeria,” he said.
Praising Stanley Okoronkwo and Harrison Mecha, Obi said, “I have consistently advised that such heroes who have made positive impacts in our nation and contributed to our development by utilising their talents and skills be celebrated and appreciated.
“Celebrating such heroic personalities will awaken in our younger generation, the passion to contribute to societal development. Both Okoronkwo and Mecha were football heroes who distinguished themselves in the field of play and contributed to the growth of our sports sector,” he said.