According to the Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Enoh the federal government
has approved more than N12bn for Team Nigeria’s preparation and participation in the 2024 Paris Olympics and Paralympics.
The 2024 Olympic Games will run from Friday, 26 July to Sunday, 11 August in France’s capital, Paris. He said President Tinubu’s approval is indicative of a vision and commitment to such human endeavours by creating a ministry for sports development.
The entire N12 billion budget for the games was approved by the President as submitted, and as such, the gesture won’t be taken for granted.
“It is not as if everything has been done but I think that every request that has been made to fund our competitions, for that is what we have done so far, to fund our preparation and participation in competitions, has been approved by Mr. President. We commend and thank him.”
In addition, the Minister said the House of Representatives also has graciously approved N100m as support for Team Nigeria’s participation in the Paris Olympics.
“I immediately remarked that the entire sum is going to the athletes. We will look at various allowances, and how we can increase the various sums by the amount of money approved by the House of Representatives.
“It is not going into preparations for the games. When I visit the camp in Germany, I will announce this to the athletes to motivate them,” he said.
Although Enoh refused to set a target for Team Nigeria, he said as the Minister of Sports, he aspires to win as many medals as possible in Paris.
He said following positive signals from Germany where most of the athletes are presently camping, Team Nigeria will aspire to surpass their best performance at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
Nigeria won two gold, one silver and three bronze medals for their best-ever performance in 17 appearances at the Olympics.
The Minister also thanked the media for their support to the team and for ensuring that all the ministry’s activities and achievements in the last year were given adequate coverage.
