Onyekachi Eze 
…Says huge spending evidence of recklessness
The National leader of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, has called for an investigation into Nigeria’s poor outing at the just concluded Olympic Games in Paris, France.
Nigeria with a total of 88 contingents and a huge budget of N12 billion, came home without a single medal.
Obi who is the candidate of the Labour Party(LP) in the 2023 presidential election, in a statement on his X platform, registered his displeasure at the nation’s poor performance.
“We invested about N12 billion into this Olympics, which is almost twice the amount budgeted for the entire Ministry of Science and Technology for this year’s budget.
“This is over N136 million (about $85,000) spent on each of the 88 Nigerian contingents to the Olympics, and no singular medal was won while Jamaica, a nation which spent far less than we did, a total of about $2300 on each contingent, won 6 medals; 1 Gold, 3 Silver and 2 Bronze at the Olympics.
“We must now question how we made this huge investment, without getting any returns,” he demanded.
He regretted that while about nine African countries won gold, Nigeria which prides itself as the giant of Africa with over 200 million people came home without even a bronze.
According to him, the rascality and recklessness that has continued to characterise leadership in Nigeria has often portrayed the country as a joke, even on the international stage.
He decried the sacrifice of competence and capacity over favouritism, noting “the case of Favour Ofili, a Nigerian professional sprinter who trained for years for the 2024 Olympics, only for her name to be recklessly and wrongly removed from the list of athletes for the 100m race at the Olympics by Nigerian sporting authorities.
“What explanation can anyone give about Annette Echikunwoke, a former Nigerian hammer thrower, who was frustrated by the same rascality of some Nigerian leaders, making her switch her allegiance to the United States, where she eventually won a medal in the ongoing Olympics?
“These same professional athletes were denied the opportunity to represent our nation in Tokyo 2020 for a similar reason of administrative recklessness.”
Obi said he was told that some injured athletes, not physically fit to represent the country and not competing in the ongoing Olympics, were there in Paris receiving estacodes from our national resources.
“Some of the sports officials and others who have no reason to be at the Olympics were there too, living large and feeding fat on the estacodes while our nation was crashing out on every sporting event.
“One of our athletes, Ese Ukpeseraye, had to borrow a bicycle to compete at her sporting event. How can one truly explain that?
“What a country! What a shame! When do we stop these rascalities that always rob our nation of golden opportunities to make a positive change?
“I call on the government to investigate these gross misconducts and make sure that those responsible do not have the opportunity to do so again.
“We must build a nation of discipline and commitment to duty, where competence and capacity reign, he demanded.
The former Anambra governor also eulogised two great Nigeria footballers, ex-Rangers football Club legends Stanley Okoronkwo and Harrison Mecha, when he joined other sports lovers in service of songs in Enugu last Thursday.
