The Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) is already looking beyond the achievement of Team Nigeria at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, with the committee already looking forward to the team winning at least 12 medals at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

During a programme on radio yesterday monitored by New Telegraph , the Secretary-General of the NOC, Tunde Popoola, said Nigeria has what it takes to surpass their best performance at the Games, which was in Atlanta 1996, with Team Nigeria winning six medals: two gold, one silver, and three bronze.

According to Popoola, the athletes should be in the best frame of mind to perform in the colour of Nigeria and that’s why they alongside the Ministry of Sports have been supporting them with everything available.

“The athletes shouldn’t be begging for bread, this is an opportunity to empower them,” Popoola said. “Most of the funds like the sports minister said, money collected will go to the athletes and we agree.

“We need to really empower them, some who are not well to do at the end of the day they should be proud. At the end of the day, we also want to make the athletes happy and include them in the picture.

“We want to expose them, expose what is really going on here, if we have a bad image and do well, particularly at the Olympics, everyone will not seem to think about that anymore. It polishes our image as a country, it puts us up there, and it positions us very well.