Olympic gold medallist, Daniel Igali, has accused Nigeria of only paying lip service to sports development, over the zero allocation to sports federations by the federal government.
Speaking to reporters on the sideline of the ongoing 7th National Youth Games at the Stephen Keshi stadium, Asaba, venue, Igali said that the government only draws up a budget for sports competitions.
Igali who is also the Commissioner of Sports in Bayelsa State, said “There is no reason why every sport in Nigeria should not go to every competition in Africa and the world. We don’t have a budget for sports in Nigeria.
“All we have is a miserly budget that goes into very few competitions. Other countries have big budgets for sports.
“It’s really painful what athletes are going through and that is why it is difficult to get that big sustainable breakthrough”, added Igali.
Speaking on the state of wrestling in the country, the president of the Nigeria Wrestling Federation, and Canada’s first male world champion, berated the zero funding for the wrestling Federation.
The first Olympic male champion from Canada said despite the positive impact in the major world competitions, stressing that appropriate funding will boost athletes’ performance.
Meanwhile, Igali has said the priority of the Bayelsa State contingent at the NYG, in Asaba is to discover talented athletes that will replace ageing ones in an international championship.
Alleluia is the Assistant Editor and Content Writer at LagosPost.ng. She is a prolific writer and editor, she has written features and news stories on Lifestyle, Sports, Business, Politics and B2B marketing. She is also an event coordinator, host and social media content creator.
