Nigeria needs N7bn for 2016 Olympics — Abdullahi
October 1, 2012 by Kazeem Busari

The Minister of Sports and Chairman National Sports Commission, Bolaji Abdullahi, has revealed that Team Nigeria will need N7bn to be at the Rio 2016 Olympics.

Abdullahi, who decried Nigeria’s poor outing at the London 2012 Olympics, said that the money would be used, among other things, to source for and train quality athletes while also restructuring the various sports federations.

He added that President Goodluck Jonathan will host a special retreat on October 22 where plans for the 2016 Olympics would be discussed.

“The President believes Nigeria should win nothing less than five medals at the next Olympics and he is not leaving anything out to get our athletes ready,” Abdullahi said. “We’ll need about N7bn to prepare the team for the Games.

“Government alone cannot carry the burden; the corporate sector has to weigh in. The private organisations will not come in because they are nice people; they’ll only come in if we presented it as a business proposal, and they see it as a worthwhile investment otherwise we’re not going to make any impact. I believe all those issues can be tackled in no time,” he added.

Abdullahi had yet to overcome his disgust at seeing the national stadiums in Lagos and Abuja in sorry states, saying playing was on to have them managed by private organisations.

He said, “It’s a shame and I’m embarrassed that these huge monuments of our sports could be left to decay over the years. The question is, when the National Stadium in Abuja was constructed nine years ago, what was the maintenance plan for the facility? Is there any maintenance plan? If there was, what happened to it?

“You can’t put in place this kind of infrastructure and hope that it would take care of itself. At the London 2012 Olympics, the organisers were clear about what they are going to do with the facilities after the Games.

“At the time of building the stadium in the name of Nigeria 1999, what plan did we have? There wasn’t any plan on ground, that’s why we’re where we are today. Routine maintenance cannot help hence we’re talking about giving the stadiums out on concession. We’re trying to get organisations that can manage the stadiums, especially in Abuja and Lagos .

“The President has set up a small committee headed by the Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to look at what we can do with some of the infrastructures.

“But why I’m angry is that while we’re working on this long-term plan, what does it cost us to keep the stadiums clean and trim the grass. It’s embarrassing (especially) when someone in my Commission is the Director of Facilities.”

The Minister also told The PUNCH that the planned reformation for the Nigeria Institute of Sports would not mean the loss of jobs at the institute.

“We’re starting with a fact-finding mission to determine what is wrong with the institute,” he said.

“The traditional role of the NIS is to train sports workers – coaches, athletes and so on. But we want it to play a greater role like the English Institute for Sports which was vital in turning sports around in Great Britain .

“I wouldn’t say we’ll relieve anyone of his position; this is not about individuals, it’s about the institute.”

http://www.punchng.com/sports/nigeria-needs-n7bn-for-2016-olympics-abdullahi/

How many medals did they win in the last Olympics?

They won't even get N7 approved for them.

@@@@@@@@@

ndi ochi!

thieves

When it's not as if they want to host the games

.

another excuse to sTeAl our precious money

Train the athletes NOW!!!

When I saw the figure, I had thought they were going to host the Olympic in Nigeria. God bless our leaders for leading us astray

what does the development of nigeria have to do with winning gold medals,why dont this people think like adults,7bn naira can be invested into other better things e.g f.g roads lik benin-ore,chrismass dey come ooo,

7billion Naira? They wan build stadium ni?

OMG ! by the way, How much is the contract of Abuja - Lokoja road? this certainly affect the price of G A R R I ooo..... sorry for the G word.....

.... Mogbeeeee!!!!! How much Brazil come need for Olympic sef

Another Channel, Surely.

This space is truly for sale!
I laff in Nairaland's language,
GaGaGaGaGaRiRiRiRiRiRi!
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 billioooon naira!
GaGaGaGaGaGaRiRiRiRiRi!
/*still laffing*/

If all these animals nor get who dey talk to dem, dem nor fit use their brain?

7 billion for 5 medals...!? God punish Olympic and the man wei do the quotation, the athlets should jst sit down at home for the nxt Olympic, let them use the money to do something better while we watch other countries in the nxt Olympic from our tv, without hypertension.

N7,000,000,000.00?

Approved. Mr Sports Minister, meet Sanusi Lamido to pay you in N5,000 bills.

Oloshi.

OMG 7bn for wat? How much did dey spent in d last Olympics n wt's d outcome. I guess d money is for
hosting d olympics in nigeria.

Invest that N7bn into cassava production and see the impact it will have on the price of "garri" and "cassava bread". The price will definitely come down and the hungry masses would have something to be happy about instead of dashing a politician N7bn to win medal, medal that will not have any impact on the lives of Nigerians. I think GEJ needs to bundle all those working with him, tie them to a stick and fire them off! They are all thieves, BIG thieves!

May God help Nigeria and Nairaland, as Seun loves putting things that will not affect the price of garri on the front page! Height of insensitivity to the plight of the masses!

President!

The sport minister must be incredibly doped for saying this thrash,another wasteful jamboree party all in the name of going to The Olympics which we all know do us nothing! We vehemently resist this

7 whaaaat Na we wan host am

Chanchit: 7 billion for 5 medals...!? God punish Olympic and the man wei do the quotation, the athlets should jst sit down at home for the nxt Olympic, let them use the money to do something better while we watch other countries in the nxt Olympic from our tv, without hypertension.

my brother,i tire o
this dudes must be silly to feel we would fold our hands and watch them brainwash our heads with some craps again and again

N7B? Nawa o

billion meanns nothing to these sets of bigots, 7bn if invest in power supply won't we see the result likewise unemployment and on our deathtrap called nigerian road
lest I forget if invested in cassava production that means reduction in price of g****. But these pple have forgotten their brain somewhere will a medal won @ the olympics fetch me 3square meal or the common man mtcheeewwww sets of people
naija @52 we hail thee

If N7billion is for training athletes, how much are they going to demand if Nigeria manages to win a bid for hosting the Olympic games?

Mr Minister!!!Ha ba The national priority now is to invest in revamping our national economy, education, Health sector, Industrial capacity building and Job creation and Not Gambling in the name of Gaming!!!! This is just ridiculous....

Imagine if d fed govt releases dat 7b for sports and olympics takes place and dey come back home once again with ZERO medals.

Dis dude wan hammer sha,,,,, ε̲̣ sure М̣̣̥̇̊ǝ̩̥ §ά¥̲ him get like 5b inside....

Na god of thunder go strike that minister down, sha na by force make we go Olympic.... I fear naija ooooo. so everything na money now, no wonder why seun dey sell any available space for NL


Anyway this space is for sale

its not too much, IF corruption will not eat it.

some people are just plain stup1d. go check how much other nations budget for olympics. After the same folks complaining will say no medal was won. y'all think olympics is a childs play. you should be worried about corruption that will hijack the money