NAN-S-2
Starvation
By Olanrewaju Akojede
Lagos, April 4, 2017 (NAN) Some Para-athletes on Tuesday bemoaned the dearth of activities in the country’s sports arena, urging the government to urgently address the problem.
The special sportsmen voiced their displeasure in interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria at the Queen’s Baton Relay for the Gold Coast 2018 XXI Commonwealth Games at the National Stadium Surulere, Lagos.
The Para-athletes said the inability of governments to stage the National Sports Festival was an lamentable, adding that it had created a lull in inter-state competitions.
A Wheelchair basketball player, Isibor Hanibal, said that lack of competition had not only dampened the athlete’s morale but had also affected their income.
“It is a great challenge to us, we lack competitions and even up till now there is no effort to make sure that the sports festivals have a date.
“It is appalling that in a nation that is endowed with many outstanding athletes in all spheres cannot hold a National Sports Festival with its abundant resources.
“The Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports and the state governments should bury their faces in shame because if we may ask, what is the achievement of this present Minister of Sports since he came in?
“Sports have been at the lowest ebb activities wise since Solomon Dalung came in as a minister of sports,’’ he alleged.
Hanibal said that it was just media hype that the athletes were preparing for the Commonwealth Games, adding that no player was in camp in preparation for the quadrennial Games.
“We are not prepared for the Games at all, but that does not mean that we are not training on our own. The only thing is that those in authority are not saying anything about our competitions.
“All what we are hearing are just media hypes and reports that monies have been released but where are the athletes camped for the Games?
“Commonwealth Games are not just a game but a competitive one which requires adequate planning; those going there are not just there for the fun of it but to make a statement.
“If we fail to prepare, our participation will just be a jamboree and people will start pointing at us as failures, so we struggle individually, yet our efforts are not appreciated,’’ he said.
Another Para-table tennis athlete, Mary Obasi, said that the Para-athletes had now resorted to odd ways of life in order to survive the economic hardship.
“We are athletes and our profession should put food on our table at least to survive, but with no competition, no training allowance, where do we get money from?
“We have so many physically challenged individuals here in the stadium that after training have nothing to eat, some go as far as working as bus conductors to survive.
“Our lives are almost in shambles, there are no competitions where we get money and some of us have responsibilities. Sports ministry is just turning us to liabilities.
“Those that have been helping us before now are now complaining about recession. The present minister of sports has done nothing to improve sports in Nigeria,’’ she said.
Obasi said that since EKO 2012 National Sports Festival, Para-athletes had been battling with getting a competition that would make them to hold on to sports.
“After EKO 2012, there has been no major competition again; the minister of sports is just making promises about hosting the sports festival which we consider as empty.
“There are no activities in the sports industry at all; even some states that have camped their sportsmen have disbanded them since there is no definite date for the sports festival.
“I may have to think that we need a minister that understands sports as a way of national development and not someone who has brought down the glory of Nigeria in sports.
“For the minister to say that he is not expecting the female team to win a tournament calls for worry. I think his interest is not in sports at all.
“We need a real sport minister and there must be an intervention from somewhere,’’ she said. (NAN)
KOJE/PDE
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(Editing by Peter Ejiofor)