Presidential largesse: Paralympians shortchanged by NSC officials

Sports minister...probe and declare the truth

When it comes to corruption in Nigerian sports, stranger-than-fiction things do happen here.

You wonder why some people (if this is true) would so cynically criminalise the self against a Presidential directive given in the glare of klieglights before the entire world.

Please can someone ask, how did the reported deductions undertaken on behalf of the athletes and team members (with or without their consent) was delivered? Is this a case of desperation, also festered by greed?

His cash deducted without his consent?

From whichever way one looks at this new paralympic controversy, what one sees is how greed is fast becoming a way of life in our sports industry. It is sad that we are increasingly building a society where many believe it is right and normal to make wealth without work. Everybody wants to buy a private house and the most exotic cars without sweat. There are government officials who would abuse public trust without compunction; With so many people likely to be on the take, it is no wonder that the world looks at Nigeria as the global headquarters of 419.

Yet, majority of Nigerians are actually decent, hard working people who are being negatively stigmatised by a notorious minority that has taken over the critical institutions of state and who are using same to give us a bad name on virtually all fronts.

This is where Minister Bolaji Abdullahi must rise now and give us a clear case of the latest controversial scandal planted in his ministry. 

This is the report unedited as published:

Crisis looms between the country’s athletes to the recently concluded London 2012 Paralympic games and the officials of the National Sports Commission (NSC) over the Federal Government largesse as the athletes are set to petition presidency.

The President, Jonathan Ebele Goodluck, had announced monetary awards to the athletes and their officials for making the country proud at the games during the ceremony in their honour penultimate weekend.

Goodluck had announced N5million for gold medalists, N3million for silver, N2.5 for bronze and N500,000 for all athletes that did not win any medal and N2.5million each for all the accompanying officials, coaches, secretaries, medical team members and the loaders.

To the surprise of the athletes they have been short-changed by the NSC officials with only medalists being paid fully.

It was revealed to Sportswriters by some of the officials that they only received N1million when the alert came. A member of the medical team told sportswriters that he got an alert for N1million while the coaches also confirmed the same thing when asked. The 3 loaders according to investigation were paid N500,000 as against N2.5million announced by the president.

The affected officials pleaded not to be mentioned so as not to be dealt with but have all resolved to petition the presidency over this ugly trend wondering why the president should ask them to be paid some amount and they were paid another.

Meanwhile, some of the federation secretaries kept sealed lips over this development when contacted but the other officials even showed the alert to sportswriters.

“We have resolved to petition the Presidency over this development because this really took us by surprise, when the statement made at the ceremony and only for us to get alert (Tuesday and Wednesday) for another payment, we only need to know why or maybe the president has changed his mind without telling us”, the officials said while chatting with sportswriters Thursday.