At the 22nd National Sports Festival, athletes from host Ogun State have demanded that their money be paid in full before they open the Babcock University games village gates.
Two days before the 2024 National Sports Festival came to a close, the athletes started a protest on Wednesday demanding unpaid allowances.
A number of athletes and officials who had separate events were left stranded after they blocked the entrance of the games village, where all participating states are camped.
Some of the athletes also confirmed that they had been paid the N50,000 promised to all athletes by the state government, as well as N140,000 as allowance for the festival.
However, they insisted that the agreed allowance was N210,000 at N15,000 per day for a period of 14 days.
“We have been paid N50k this morning, which was what the governor promised but to our amazement, they have started paying N140k as the festival allowance instead of N210k,” one of the athletes anonymously bemoaned.
“In solidarity, we are not leaving this place until the money is complete. The festival is ending tomorrow. If our money remains even N50, we are not leaving this place. It has to be completed,” another one noted.
Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun had pledged a cash reward of N2.5m for every gold medallist from the state, N1.5m for silver and N1m for bronze medallists, before the beginning of the sports festival,
The state is third on the medals table with 48 gold, 38 silver and 47 bronze medals.