National Sports Festival: “Before the next whistle: pay athletes what they owe them”

As they begin to overcome the battery of another National Sports Festival, this time it resonates towards Abeokuta, many athletes throughout the country are still loaded by the silence that followed the last one. Since the Delta/Asaba 2022 Festival, innumerable athletes have been left without paying, their efforts without reward, their marginalized dreams and their ignored sacrifices.

These are not just competitors. They are sons and daughters of this great nation who poured heart, soul, sweat and spirit to represent their states with pride.

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They brought house medals, flags were built and stood on podiums. However, now they sit in the shadows, waiting, not for glory, but for justice.

And now, a new festival is on the horizon.

How do we advance with glory when the base is still cracked with negligence? Instead of inciting panic, we are raising a call, a plea wrapped in dignity. We call on all state sports commissioners, each general director of state sports commissions: do what is necessary. Solve what is due. Give these athletes the honor and recognition they have won.

Let the path to Abeokuta be paved with justice. Let this festival not be eclipsed by unpaid promises, but be celebrated for its spirit and justice. If these problems are not solved, this matter will be made public, and the names of the breeding states will be called without hesitation.

This is not a threat. This is a cry of responsibility.

Athletes deserve something better. Nigeria deserves better. Let’s not prepare for another festival, burying the shame of the last. Let us raise, together, in truth, in justice and in the glory of sport.

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