Nigeria home- based athletes regret attending presidential reception 

By Esther Egbe

Placed the 9th  position on the medals table at the 2018 Commonwealth Games with  9 gold, 9 silver and 6 bronze, an excited Team Nigeria athletes yesterday visited Aso Rock, inly to be disappointed after the presidential reception at the Aso Villa in Abuja.

An athlete told the National Daily its unfortunate the country can only give Commonwealth Games medalists and contingents handshakes after a wonderful performance.

“How can the Federal Government give us handshakes after our outstanding performances at the 2018 Commonwealth Games? In 2014, gold medalists were given  N2.5 million, silver medalists N1.5 million and bronze medalists N1 million by the past administration. It’s a big shame”, he said.

“Those who came by road collected N20,000, while athletes who came by air got N60,000. The money is not sufficient at all”.

“The minister misled the Vice President, Yemi Osibanjo, by saying he rewarded us. The 5,000 dollars, 3,000 dollars and 2,000 dollars given to us was for winning medals. The government ought to host us as good ambassadors of our great nation”, she said.

Meanwhile, the President of Nigeria Wrestling Federation, Daniel Igali wrote on his twitter handle, “Expecting there is a secret plan, the much vaunted presidential reception turned out to be a mere handshake”.

Last April, Bayelsa state governor, Seriake Dickson, rewarded the Nigeria Wrestling Federation Team with the sum of N13.9 million naira for their outstanding performance at the just concluded Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia.