NewStats: 3,264,653 , 8,184,349 topics. Date: Wednesday, 11 June 2025 at 09:18 PM 49f4v

The Olympic Games, Paris 2024, has ended, and I accept that our performance should have been a lot better. It obviously fell short of our objectives, expectations, and hopes of Nigerians. I must apologize to our compatriots and reflect on what went wrong while looking forward to the Paralympic Games, Paris 2024(August 28- September 8th).

When I assumed office as the Minister of Sports Development in August 2023, I was confronted with the task of executing four international competitions namely the AFCON, the African Games,the Olympic and Paralympic Games in a matter of a few months. I was also reminded that the Olympic Games is the world's supreme sports competition, and countries require at least four years to prepare for it. I held extensive discussions with the management staff of the Ministry and got to know that preparations for the Olympics, which was less than a year away, had not started.

In the true Nigerian spirit, it was our view that we should spare no effort to sustain the international sports image of our country. Our target was to re-enact the Atlanta 1996 performance or even improve on it. To this end, we embarked on a progressive approach to drive forward the performance of our athletes and coaches. In my first week in office, I requested all National Sports Federations to furnish me with plans and programmes. I also embarked on a nationwide inspection of our sports facilities.

Subsequently, I constituted a Ministerial Podium Performance Advisory Committee comprising seasoned sports performance professionals to drive our preparations.
At this time, we had hardly qualified for the Olympics in any sport. We focused on both the AFCON and the African Games (both of which were happening in quick succession)while our athletes also participated in Olympic and Paralympic qualification tournaments. This had the disadvantage of compelling the athletes to attain peak performances several times within a short space of time. I was also enlightened that athletes of many countries had qualified almost one year ago and had already structured their training programmes for the Olympics. We were not deterred.

I convened a series of meetings involving the Presidents of the National Sports Federations, their Technical Directors, and Secretaries General. These meetings examined the preparations for the competitions. The Ministerial Podium Performance Advisory Committee was in attendance to discuss and streamline methodologies and training methods in the best possible way, considering the time constraints.

After the African Games, subsequent meetings were limited to the Federations that had bright chances of qualifying for the Olympics. Medals projections were made by all the Federations, although their athletes were still trying to qualify; which lasted until about June 2024. The concerned Federations obviously prioritized qualification over preparations for the Games. This seems to have always been the case.This has to change.
At the end of the qualification period, the selection of athletes and coaches was the absolute responsibility of each Federation.A few attempts to question selection after i got complaints were strongly resisted and defended.

To achieve our targets, we approved onshore training in different locations in the country in addition to the offshore training camps for our teams in Saarbrucken, , and Sevilla, Spain. Ten out of the eleven sports trained in . The choice of the training facilities in was based on the very positive recommendations of the Ministry team and included the President of one of our Federations who as a former world champion and Olympic gold medal winner, is quite familiar with Olympic-standard facilities and equipment. At the training camp, the Ministerial Podium Performance Advisory Committee offered scientific preparation and mental strength training . The very high quality of their participation was confirmed by independent sources comprising athletes, coaches, and team s.

In all these, the President and Commander in Chief of the Federation,HE Bola Ahmed Tinubu, ensured that funds were not a limiting factor. Athletes competition requirements were provided, allowances were paid early, and training grants were disbursed to all athletes.I made myself readily available to deal with any issue throughout the competition. Therefore, the underwhelming performance of our team is puzzling. We owe Nigerians an explanation.

As a responsible organisation, we have swung into a review process. We shall evaluate the competition readiness of every athlete comprehensively, including their injury and medical history within the limits of patient confidentiality. The role of coaches and istrative staff will also be examined.

There must be a lot of lessons to learn from our performance and improvements must be made in all ramifications.The last time we returned from the Olympics without a medal was in 2012.The next two Olympics after that we've had a bronze medal in 2016 and a silver and bronze in the 2020 Olympics. As a country, we deserve more.Let's turn the disastrous outcome of the 2024 Olympics to a huge positive for Nigerian sports.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/df21u9VjRsC79JBm/?mibextid=oFDknk

Are they joking or what? Will the concerned officials refund all the legal and illegal alerts they received?

politicoNG:


https://www.facebook.com/share/p/df21u9VjRsC79JBm/?mibextid=oFDknk

Nigerians are already used to excuses

Appology accepted

If not for bad governance, South Africa suppose dey use us as competitive mate but Botswana won when we were getting disqualified because of wrong track.. Ah! When will this shame be over..

The Yoruba-led team they were bragging with came back in disgrace. ZERO medals.

Tobi Amusan the drug cheat did not make final
Anuoluwapo Opeyori did not make final
Cynthia Ogunsemilore sent home for taking drugs


The only finalist was Igbo Favour Ofili and her 100m place was sabotaged by the hateful tribe.


Spits.

Them for remain quiet. Cos we no even if Olympics took place b4

Sai BaBa
...a country of 200 million people, housing the largest number of blacks on the planet, yet couldn't compete with fellow blacks from other countries that were topping the table🤔🤔

We move, unto the next one as if nothing happens

Not a surprise. The Olympic outing is sadly a reflection of the systemic rot in every facet of our existence as a people.

BlueTom:
Appology accepted

Funds gone. They will repeat and apologize again,no one will ever be held able.

Sacking the minister of sports shouldn’t be a difficult thing except they want a repetition to happen and another failure to qualify for the world cup

Ok

I heard that the govt refused to properly provide for our athletes becos most were igbos

There are other things you should be apologizing for.


This isn't one of them


Dufus!!!!

Nobody is reg, nobody is getting sacked,
Retain same officials and same result will occur next 4 years.

Apology without probing is not enough, all the financial resources allocated for the Olympic should be investigated because it's not the lack of medals but the lack of training apparatus for the athletes. Borrowing bicycle from , that was how an athlete was doing wash and wear in an international tournament. The decadence is just too much, who do Nigeria?

MasterJayJay:
Nobody is reg, nobody is getting sacked,

Retain same officials and same result will occur next 4 years.

Does anyone ever resign in Africa?
They see failure as success

Normal normal.

They thought it was a rigging competition they can just wake up and win.

Poor preparation and management = failure.

70 year old man!

Giant of Africa with the legs of a mosquito.

On a more serious note, federal character principle should be abolished from sectors like Sports.

It hasn't helped us.

Keep your apologies to yasef.
Heads must roll in that Sport Ministry.
Many negative news coming outta there.
Enough is enough.
We have enough talents wasting away in Trenches here.
Nonsense.

Apologies kill you there...

No need for the apology. Paralympic athletes go bring us many medals

I followed the Olympics games all day and lost interest when our last hope of a medal crashed out.
Tobi express let me down big time.


After Oshain Bolt, this guy is my greatest male olympian of all time.

The failures recorded at Paris Olympics 2024 are true reflection of the government of the day.

to the mod that have been banning monikers older than him or her .may your life be banners

LegallyBlunt:
Normal normal.

They thought it was a rigging competition they can just wake up and win.

Poor preparation and management = failure.

70 year old man!

Your landlord's age?

Sir, we are more interested in an apology for the economic hardships than for any nonsense Olympics.

Apologize for removing subsidies without proper thinking and planning.

Apologize for failing to repair the refineries despite multiple deadlines and the looting of the budgeted funds.

Apologize for the poor timing of floating the Naira without proper consideration and the strategic repositioning of the economy first.

Apologize for the extravagance and corruption of the federal government.

Apologize for the human rights abuses by security forces across the nation, which required deliberate government action, yet none was taken.

Apologize for not having a plan despite rigging yourself into office.

Apologize for stealing a mandate that wasn’t yours. The whole universe knows it was the turn of the Igbos, but you gaslighted them and bullied your way into power, only to stumble and wreck our economy.

Apologize for dividing Nigeria along ethnic lines before and during your campaigns, and for continuing to such actions that have led to our nation being the most divided since independence.

politicoNG:


The Sorry State of Sports in Nigeria

It's a systemic issue: what a nation doesn't value, it cannot excel in. Sports is a culture that should be deeply embedded in both the school system and society. This culture is what produces the athletes we celebrate today at the Olympics. Unfortunately, many Nigerians now compete and win under other countries' flags. Why? Because those countries provide the and encouragement that our system lacks.

In Nigeria, the school system is overly focused on certificates, while sports and vocational training receive little to no attention. Until we address this imbalance and prioritize the right things, history will continue to repeat itself.

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You can't give what you don't have..

Ask yourself, when was the last time Nigeria hosted a major international tournament.. we haven't in over 20 years..

So much for a 'giant' of Africa. We are dragging the entire continent backwards.