2024 Olympics: N136 million spent per athlete, yet no medal won – Peter Obi

[dropcap]P[/dropcap]eter Obi, former governor of Anambra State and presidential candidate of the Labour Party, has voiced his disappointment over Nigeria’s performance at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Despite a substantial financial investment of N12 billion, equivalent to N136 million per athlete, the Nigerian contingent returned without a single medal, sparking national outrage.

Also read: Peter Obi lacks boldness, integrity to confront Nigeria’s enemies – Kenneth Okonkwo

In a statement shared on his X handle, Obi criticised the “rascality and recklessness” that has plagued Nigerian leadership across various sectors, including sports.

He contrasted Nigeria’s outcome with Jamaica’s, a nation that spent significantly less yet secured six medals, including one gold.

Obi questioned how a country with over 200 million people could fail so dramatically on the global stage, especially when nine other African nations managed to secure gold.

Obi highlighted the case of Favour Ofili, a Nigerian sprinter whose name was mistakenly removed from the 100m race, and Annette Echikunwoke, a hammer thrower who switched allegiance to the United States due to similar administrative failures.

These incidents, according to Obi, reinforces the pervasive incompetence within Nigeria’s sports administration.

The former governor also pointed out that some injured athletes and non-essential officials were in Paris, enjoying national resources while the country failed to win any medals.

He called for an investigation into these misdeeds and urged the government to ensure that such failures do not reoccur.

Read full statement below:

Now that the Paris Olympics 2024 has officially ended and our dear Team Nigeria, despite the huge financial investment made into the project, is returning without a single medal, let me unreservedly register my displeasure with the performance of our team and their handlers.

The rascality and recklessness that has continued to characterise leadership in our nation in nearly every department. The general impression that has come to stick is the one that portrays our country as a joke, even on the international stage.

How can one explain that a country like Jamaica spent less than 5% of what we spent on our contingents for the Paris Olympics 2024 and won as many as 6 medals. Yet with our huge financial investments and large contingent, we could not win even a single medal?

At least nine African countries won gold but the giant with over 200m people came home without even a bronze! We invested about N12 billion in this year’ s Olympics, which is almost twice the amount budgeted for the entire Ministry of Science and Technology for this year.

This is over N136 million (about $85,000) spent on each of the 88 Nigerian contingents to the Olympics, and no single medal was won while Jamaica, a nation which spent far less than we did, a total of about $2300 on each contingent, won 6 medals; 1 Gold, 3 Silver and 2 Bronze at the Olympics. We must now interrogate the relationship between this huge investment and our dismal outcome. Sad stories like this are our lot only because we have refused to embrace competence and capacity over routine and favouritism in Nigeria.

Let us consider the case of Favour Ofili, a Nigerian professional sprinter who trained for years for the 2024 Olympics, only for her name to be recklessly and wrongly removed from the list of athletes for the 100m race at the Olympics by Nigerian sporting authorities.

What explanation can anyone give about Annette Echikunwoke, a former Nigerian hammer thrower, who was frustrated by the same rascality of some Nigerian leaders, making her switch her allegiance to the United States,where she eventually won a medal in the just completed Olympics?

These same professional athletes were denied the opportunity to represent our nation in Tokyo 2020, for similar reasons of administrative recklessness. I have it on good authority that some injured athletes, not physically fit to represent the country and not competing in the ongoing Olympics, were there in Paris receiving estacodes from our national resources. Some of the sports officials and others who have no reason to be at the Olympics were there too, living large and feeding fat on the estacodes while our nation was crashing out on every sporting event. One of our athletes, Ese Ukpeseraye, had to borrow a bicycle to compete at her sporting event!

How can one sensibly explain such recklessness and infamy?

What a country! What a shame! When do we stop these rascalities that always rob our nation of golden opportunities to make a positive change? I call on the government to investigate these gross misconducts and make sure that those responsible do not have the opportunity to do so again. We must build a nation of discipline and commitment to duty, where competence and capacity reign. That is the New Nigeria we preach, and it is POssible.