Olympics: FG Responds to Athletes’ Crowdfunding Reports, Denies Sending Letter asking them to buy tickets themselves

The Federal government, in response to news of Nigerian athletes crowdfunding to travel to the Rio Olympics have said that no member of Team Nigeria will have to pay their way to Brazil.

This was made known in a series of Tweets on the Presidency Office Digital Engagement (PODE)‘s Twitter handle.

1. Our attention drawn to reports a Nigerian Olympics athlete crowdfunding for travel to Rio. We’ve contacted @NigeriaOlympic for info

— We ASOcial (@DigiCommsNG) July 22, 2016

2. @NigeriaOlympic assures that no member of #TeamNigeria will have to pay their way to #Rio2016. The FG will pay for this.

— We ASOcial (@DigiCommsNG) July 22, 2016

3. We have escalated the matter to the relevant officials.And have received assurance that ALL members of #TeamNigeria will be taken care of

— We ASOcial (@DigiCommsNG) July 22, 2016

4. We will continue to update you on funding arrangements and general planning for #TeamNigeria for #Rio2016 cc. @NigeriaOlympic

— We ASOcial (@DigiCommsNG) July 22, 2016

Athletes had resorted to crowdfunding after they received a mail from the Ministry of Sports stating that they should pay for their tickets, adding that they will get a refund later.

The Ministry of Sports have denied sending the mail to the athletes.

“We did not write any mail asking athletes to pay their way to Rio. As the overseers of sports in the country, it is our duty to take care of all our athletes.

The letter did not come from us and we will investigate the writer of that letter. It does not represent our stand concerning the movement of athletes to Rio and the writer or anybody asking athletes to buy their tickets to Rio will be investigated. We ask Nigerians and athletes in particular to disregard the mail,” Minister of Sports, Solomon Dalung said in a statement on Facebook.

Dalung in the statement, regretted the embarrassment caused by the letter and asked athletes to remain focused on their build­up to the Rio games.