We Did Not Ask Athletes To Fund Their Way To Rio Olympics – Sports Minister

The Minister of Youths and Sports, Barrister Solomon Dalung, has reacted to rumours spreading on social media like wildfire that ‘Nigerian athletes going to the Olympic Games in Rio, Brazil were urged to buy their own air tickets.’

Dalung, while dispelling the allegation, stressed that the letter – which disseminated the rumour – was not from the ministry and vowed to investigate the writer.

He disclosed this in a statement signed by his media aide, Nneka Anibeze, which was posted on his Facebook account.

The minister explained that the Director, High Performance, Angie Taylor has been given the task of arranging for the flights and movement of the foreign based athletes to and from Rio.

He said, “We did not write any mail asking athletes to pay their way to Rio. As the overseers of sports in the country, it is our duty to take care of all our athletes. The letter did not come from us and we will investigate the writer of that letter.

“It does not represent our stand concerning the movement of athletes to Rio and the writer or anybody asking athletes to buy their tickets to Rio will be investigated. We ask Nigerians and athletes in particular to disregard the mail.”

He, however, tasked athletes to focus on their build-up to the Rio games.

News had earlier claimed that some of the athletes representing the country at the Olympics in Rio were told to source fund through the social media in order to pay for their air tickets.

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