Athletes representing host Ogun State at the 22nd National Sports Festival have insisted that their monies must be paid fully before they unblock the gates of the games village at Babcock University, PUNCH Online reports.
The athletes began a protest on Wednesday over unpaid allowances, two days before the end of the 2024 National Sports Festival.
They blocked the gates of the games village, where all participating states are camped, leaving several athletes and officials, who had different finals, stranded.
Some of the athletes confirmed to PUNCH Online 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 lamented.
“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.
Meanwhile, before the start of the sports festival, Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, pledged a cash reward of N2.5m for every gold medallist from the state, N1.5m for silver and N1m for bronze medallists.
The state is third on the medals table with 48 gold, 38 silver and 47 bronze medals.
