Rio 2016: “We are suffering,” Siasia laments
Nigeria’s contingent to the Rio Olympics is expected to leave for Brazil on Friday amidst hopes of achieving considerable results at the global tournament.
Despite different charges from the authorities urging the athletes to represent the country well, there are increasing indications that they are not doing their own part.
“We are being owed backlog of allowances and wages in the last five months. No single kobo has been paid to the team as at today,” Chief coach of the Nigerian male football team, Samson Siasia has lamented.
This comes days after news filtered out that some foreign athletes had been directed to pay their own way to the competition.
Nigeria’s sports minister, Solomon Dalung, has since debunked the news saying his ministry is responsible for taking care of all atheletes representing the country.
That assertion became questionable however, when the treatment meted out to junior athletes who represented the country at an U-20 world athletics championship in Poland became public knowledge.
Now Siasia is being forced to beg for his own and his team’s pay.
“I’m pleading with the NFF and the Ministry of Sports to pay us our salaries. They should pay us before the Olympics. We are suffering. No fund at all, even we have not received the tickets to go to Brazil from here.
“The team have suffered too much. There is no encouragement to show for our patriotism to the country,” lamented Siasia.
Siasia and his team have been preparing for the Olympics in Atlanta, USA.
They will play their first game on August 4 against Japan, and many Nigerians will be hoping they have a good start.
The possibility of having such a start remains to be seen with such developments.
Siasia is being gracious however:
“We will not hold the country to ransom by threatening not to play our matches, but the government has to come to our rescue.
“I know that by the time the Olympics will be over, our monies will not be paid,” Siasia said.
And as much as one may not want to believe so, Siasia knows what he is saying..
