By Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta
Ogun State athletes preparing for the National Sports Festival (NSF) yesterday embarked on a protest to press home their demand for better welfare at the state’s sport ministry adjacent the MKO Abiola International Stadium, Kuto, Abeokuta.
The athletes, in their hundreds, stormed the ministry demanding payment for their allowance urging them (the ministry top shot) to demonstrate more than passive interest in sport development.
They lamented that it was shocking that some of their colleagues, especially the rugby players, having trained hard to qualify for the competition, were, allegedly, asked to stay away from the games by the state government just a week away from the event due to paucity of funds.
The angry athletes lamented that the state government also said that who were hell-bent on participating in rugby would do so at their own expense.
Solomon Oludaresimi, who spoke on behalf of the Rugby players, expressed disappointment at the manner the Sports Ministry was handling the Edo 2020 NSF, saying said their welfare were not being taken care of.
Solomon said: “Some of the teams that qualified for sport the festival were being removed from list. The rugby team that qualified to be in Edo will not be there.
“Firstly, rugby was removed from the list because they said there is no fund. Why did they remove us? Secondly, the players have been in camp by themselves for the past one month sponsoring ourselves, we’ve sustained injuries with no medicals, we fed ourselves and now they don’t want us to be part of the state contingent to the festival.”
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