The young males and females athletes who are between the ages of 10 to 20 accused the chairman of the state Sports Commission, Tonobok Okowa and officials of the commission of taking advantage of them to amass wealth saying he never bothered about their welfare especially in the areas of good food, water and electricity supply in their camp.
Some athletes at the National Youth Games (NYG) have protested against what they termed "poor feeding conditions, poor water and electricity supply as well as unhygienic environment" in their camp in Delta State.
The young males and females athletes who are between the ages of 10 to 20 accused the chairman of the state Sports Commission, Tonobok Okowa and officials of the commission of taking advantage of them to amass wealth saying he never bothered about their welfare especially in the areas of good food, water and electricity supply in their camp.
Delta State has won the hosting right to the National Youth Games (NYG) for four years, 2023 and 2026 with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the state and federal government for the hosting of the Youth Games which begins Wednesday, September, 20, 2023 and end by September 30, 2023.
SaharaReporters monitored the various camps where the state athletes are camped in Asaba, the state capital and observed that poor supply of electricity, water and poor feeding are major problems been faced by the athletes despite huge resources said to have been released by the state government running into several millions of naira.
Speaking with SaharaReporters Tuesday at the sports commission hostel, St Brigid's Road, Asaba, where some of the state athletes are camped, some of the athletes lamented the poor quality of food they are being fed with since their arrival last week.
"Last week Wednesday, we were served sour food, they brought sour moi-moi for us to eat, the other day too, they brought sour spaghetti for us to eat. In most cases the food they bring for us in disposable plates are very meagre and tattered packaging. We are being treated like animals here in the camp since we came in. We don't have water. Every time we in this last floor of this three-storey building and the second floor will come down to the down floor to get water from the GP tank they kept outside.
"How do you expect someone to carry one or two buckets of water from the last floor to the second or third floor? Electricity is another serious problem we are facing here. In most cases this camp is thrown into total darkness from 8:00pm till the next day. I don't know why Delta State is always different. The commission officials are always catching on every slightest opportunity to amass illicit wealth. Some of the officials are so very rich. We were told we leave camp in October 1st", one of the athletes lamented.
Another athlete who corroborated the complaints of his fellow athletes, disclosed that the commission officials do not bother to check on them to know how they are faring, adding that "We have athletes in Cycling, Scramble, Handball, Table Tennis, Kokowa, Bossing, Chess, Beach-volley ball, Basketball, Badminton, Cricket, Gymnastics, Shooting and Deaf Athletics but we are not being treated fine. Why are things different in Delta State, why are they always characterised by fraud and corruption? This is how the commission chairman and some officials enriched themselves with money meant for Delta Queens football club officials."
Meanwhile, when contacted on the issue, the chairman of Delta Sports Commission, Tonobok Okowa, said he was in a press conference, but reacting on behalf of the commission's chairman, the head of media and publicity committee, Moses Etu, debunked all the allegations, saying, "So far there has not been any complaint from the camps. I was at St Patrick's College, one of the camps and there was nothing of such.
However, since you are bringing this to our notice, we shall visit the camps."