Following the crisis rocking the Team Nigeria camp in Tokyo, the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development says the Minister, Sunday Dare has stepped in to stem the crisis by addressing the issues.
According to a statement signed by the Director Federation of Elites athletes Department Dr. Simon Ebhojiaye, the Ministry claims it is abreast of the situation on the ground and addressing them. He said payment of various allowances commenced last week and is ongoing. He maintained that the Ministry is looking into some of the issues raised by the athletes and they are being addressed as quickly as possible.
Speaking further, he said, "The Honourable Minister on Thursday morning in a meeting spoke directly with the 10 track & Field athletes who will not be competing and assured them of their welfare. He apologized to them over the unfortunate development that led to their exclusion and promised that it would be fully investigated.
"In the same vein, the Minister intervened over the IOC packs for the athletes. Working with the NOC, the Minister and NOC President on Friday morning were able to secure approval. No official of Team Nigeria or NOC took away the entitlements of any athletes who were being wrongly reported.
"Therefore issue over the phone was resolved administratively according to the IOC Rule and guidelines. Team Nigerian officials acted in line with IOC standards and as soon as approval was received the right thing was done. IOC approved that the 10 Nigerian athletes receive Samsung Galaxy S21 5G.
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"The letter of approval for their release was signed by Jonas Brun, Junior Project Manager, NOC Relations/ NOC Services.
"Regarding your athletes that will not participate in competitions in Tokyo in light of the latest information received, I confirm that you can still go ahead and give phones to the athletes", the letter reads.
"The phones which were delivered to all NOCs at the Games Village were in order for them to benefit from all important information included in the Athlete365website and also to comply with requirements set forth in the Playbooks, in particular the download and use of the apps required by the Japanes⁶e authorities,@ the statement concluded.
