The passionate request made by caretaker Minister, Bolaji Abudllahi, for the release of funds to the National Sports Commission to kick start the preparations for the forthcoming Summer Olympics tagged London 2012 soon after taking charge at the Commission may have led to the release of funds for Team Nigeria to further their preparation by President Goodluck Jonathan.
Jonathan’s desire for success at next summer London 2012 Olympic Games is shown in the approval of N350 million to kick start preparation of Nigerian athletes.
NSC Director General, Patrick Ekeji, who made the disclosure in Abuja, said the intervention by Mr. President is what the commission needed most to ensure timely execution of a well-articulated Olympic programmes.
Ekeji said: “As soon as the Minister took charge, the first thing I brought before him is this issue of preparation fund for the Olympics and I must say he acted promptly on it. He wrote to Mr. President and today I can tell you that we have received the warrant for the sum of N350 million.”
Ekeji noted that with the funds, Team Nigeria’s preparation would not in any way be stalled by the usual budgetary bottlenecks.
He expressed appreciation of the NSC to Jonathan whose credentials as a sportsman, he declared, has never been in doubt.
The DG said that with the funds, the commission will effectively fund the preparation of the Olympic bound athletes as well as pay for the use of the training facility at Team Nigeria camp in Surry, England.
He noted that giving adequate medical attention to Olympic medal hopeful, Chika Chukwumereije, who sustained injury last week in Cairo Egypt while fighting for the qualification is among the priority list of the commission as the country prepares for the Olympics.
He also said that the qualifiers funded wholly by the athlete’s father Senator Uche Chukwumereije would be refunded by the commission assuring the Athletic Federation of Nigeria, AFN of adequate support following the release of the preparation fund.
According to the Director General, AFN had made a budget proposal of N350 million to prepare its athletes for the Olympics, but he assured the federation of advancement of about 20-30 per cent of the budget to enable it take care of targeted preparation for is athlete.
Ekeji, who expressed confidence that Team Nigeria will do well at the Olympics, declared: “My intension is to ensure that AFN gets something between 20 to 30 per cent of their budget for targeted preparation of the athletes.
“We will monitor it and I am sure they will do well. In terms of planning we have done our bit. It now remains execution and execution is funds. Government has done well. It has to be stated.”
It could be recalled that the AFN President, Solomon Ogba, had disclosed that the federation needed N350 million to prepare the track and field athletes for the Olympic Games, adding that getting the said amount early would solidify the federation’s confidence in winning medals at the Olympics.