An official accompanying the contingent confirmed that the athletes had not been paid, but said he could not provide any answers as to why.
As the 2014 Commonwealth Games kick off today in Glasgow, Scotland, Nigerian athletes have complained that Nigerian officials failed to pay them their allowances.
Speaking anonymously to a correspondent of SaharaReporters, two athletes who are part of the Nigerian contingent, decried the shoddy preparations they had received as well as the inexplicable delay in paying athletes’ allowances.
“I can tell you that our competitors from other countries are happier than we are because their countries took care of their training and pay them regularly,” one of the athletes said. “Why can’t our own officials and country do the same thing for us?” he asked.
The other athlete echoed him. “It’s going to take only individual ability for any of us to shine here in Scotland as all the necessary preparations and incentives to motivate us have been lacking,” he said. The athlete added: “From the last time we spoke till now, our situation still hasn’t improved. The Games will commence in some hours andyet we haven’t received a penny as allowance. It is pathetic. Just look at how our footballers were pampered during the World Cup in Brazil. Our situation is the complete opposite.”
An official accompanying the contingent confirmed that the athletes had not been paid, but said he could not provide any answers as to why. “As I’m talking to you, I am aware that the athletes had not been paid for camping unless the situation changed a few hours ago. But, as an official, I should know if anything like that has happened. No payment has been made [to the athletes] for camping in Lagos and Abuja. I know that this isn’t motivating at all,but I am not the leader, so I don’t know why the payments are still not made. The athletes are making sacrifices for their country, and I just hope all these won’t affect themnegatively on the field.”
A few weeks ago, the Director General of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Gbenga Elegbeleye, stated that the Ministry of Sports had budgeted N4 billion for the games. When reminded of Mr. Elegbeleye’s statement, the Nigerian sports official in Glasgow said he was in no position to know what happened to the funds. Pressed by our correspondent, the source stated, “May be it’s beingheld up somewhere.”
One of the athletes who spoke to us stated that the sorry situation of Nigerian athletes “says a lot about the poor preparation of the country for this important sporting eventwhich is seen as only next to the Olympics,” citing the number of countries and athletes that feature in it.
Any country that was once under British rule is eligible to send qualifying athletes to the Commonwealth Games. The participants in this year’s Games include athletes fromAustralia, Canada, India, Jamaica and South Africa.