As Nigeria contingent to the ongoing 2020 Olympic Games in Japan tagged ‘Tokyo Olympics’ struggle to win a medal, the immediate past Director-General of the defunct National Sports Commission (NSC), Alhassan Yakmut has advised the Ministry of sports to prioritize the paying of allowance of the remaining athletes at the ongoing Olympics, saying that there must not have any issue with their allowances so that it will motivate them to give their all for the country.
Yakmut who also held the position of the director of grassroots sports development before he became the DG of the defunct NSC though not really happy with the turnout of event in Tokyo where Nigerian athletes took to the street to protest their disqualification advised that the minister, Sunday Dare should as a matter of urgency set up a welfare team that will see to the well-being of the remaining athletes if we must win a medal at the event.
Also, he advises that all officials should develop partner contact with all the athletes so that they could be there for them whenever they are in need of anything.
“Honestly, these are not the best times for us, shortly after I read of the whole I called the minister and advise him to set up a welfare team to cater for the need of the remaining athletes but he assured me that he has just done that even before I called.
On the protest by the ten athletes banned by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), Yakmut said that the protest was meaningless
According to him, “Once you are found wanting by the AIU, they should have quietly left and put machinery in place to see what happen next and not stage a protest that would change nothing rather than giving the country a bad name,” he said
Meanwhile, Yakmut said he is optimistic that Nigeria will definitely come home with some medals despite the unfortunate incident of the disqualification of some athletes including Blessing Okagbare.
