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Stories By ROMANUS UGWU,Abuja
Minister of Sports and Youth Development, Solomon Dalung, has confessed that the preparation for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games for Team Nigeria is in serious jeopardy, lamenting the inability of the country’s contingent to embark on overseas training.
Dalung, who made the confession while making appearance before the Senate Committee on Sports yesterday said already the 78 athletes that had qualified ought to have started their foreign camping, but for lack of funds.
He regretted that the N2.9 billion President Mohammadu Buhari released last year for the 2015 All Africa Games, as well as the preparation for the Olympic was not effectively utilized for the purpose it was released.
Disclosing that Team Nigeria would be participating in eight events, Dalung, however, promised to put effort in place to unravel how the money was expended.
“We will be participating in eight sports events, but I have to confess to you that we are seriously facing paucity of funds. That was why some of the athletes that are supposed to embark on pre-tournament training tours overseas have not. Let me also say that this administration will do everything to unravel what happened to the money, I assure you of that,” he noted.
Earlier, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Sports, Senator Obinna Ogba said the legislative arm of government had done everything during the budget defence to ensure that the athletes get all that will make them excel, adding that the Federal Government should do all it could to adequately prepare the athletes for the games.
