Sports Minister laments disappointing Olympics outing by Team Nigeria

Minister of Sports Development, John Owan Enoh has lamented the disappointing outing by Team Nigeria at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

The Olympic Games, which kicked off on 26 July will come to a final close today (Sunday) in the capital city of France.

Speaking before the closing ceremony of the Games, the Minister said there will be stiffer scrutiny of the constitutions governing Nigeria’s sporting federations.

Team Nigeria failed to win a single medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics despite “adequate support” and preparations powered by the Ministry.

Senator Enoh said, “We did everything as a Ministry to prepare the athletes adequately and provide them with every financial support but unfortunately the performance has not produced any podium finish.”

Read Also: Ese Brume finishes 5th as Nigeria’s medal wait continues after Day 13 in Paris

He continued, “As we go back home we must do everything to prevent future occurrence of the Paris disaster and if this will entail the review of how people are elected to lead our sporting Federations, it will be done.”

Emphasizing the importance of upcoming federations’ elections, Senator Enoh noted, “I know that elections into the Federations are coming and it will be the perfect platform to get only those who have something to offer to lead the various sports.”

Reflecting on the complexity of these elections, he added, “I am aware that the Sports Federations Elections in Nigeria are even tougher than our National Elections and you will begin to ask yourself why is it so.”

The Minister concluded, “So for me as a Minister it is important I supervise an Elections where only the best hands will lead the various Federations and I also understand that in some of the Federations their constitutions will need to be reviewed for better inclusion.”

Nigeria failed to win any medals from the Games. It is the worst performance in recent times.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now