Athletes Protest Rocks Maiden Niger Delta Sports Festival: Matters Arising
By Joseph Esivwenughwu
LAGOS APRIL 11TH (URHOBOTODAY)-For the past three months our ears were filled with the song of Niger Delta Sports Festival holding in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. The ceremony which took some days to complete with athletics vying for medals was to be finally laid to rest on Tuesday 8th April 2025. On Monday night most of the athletics did not sleep rather they were holding meetings and counter meetings. In the morning when the officers came for the closing ceremony what they saw was different from their expectation.
Protest broke out at the Cornelia Connelly College (CCC) camp of athletes participating in the maiden Niger Delta Sports Festival (NDSF) over non-payment of their allowances. Songs such as ‘’we no go gree oooo we no go gree”, monkey dey work bamboo dey chop” rented the air”. On investigation it was discovered that many of the athletics have not been paid their allowances for days and the athletics knows that once they are out of the venue their allowances is a forgone conclusion.
Based on the non-payment of their allowances the athletes refused to leave their respective camps over unpaid allowances thereby putting the ceremony in jeopardy. Athletes camped at the CCC camp in Uyo are from Cross River, Abia, Imo and Ondo States. The gate to their hostel was locked by the aggrieved athletes to prevent entry and going out. The athletes alleged foul play in the process because there was no official disclosure on the amount athletes would be paid at the festival.
After much pressure and seeing the negative effect of the ongoing protest on the festival that just
started for the first time and on a failure note, the Co-chairman of the Main Organizing Committee, Sir Itiakor Ikpokpo, speaking to news men through telephone blamed the Remita network system for the delay in payment of the allowances. Why did he fail to come out openly to address the protesters and relate the true position to them can only be answered by him and no one else?
Speaking further, “Ikpokpo, who doubles as the consultant (DUNAMIS ICON) for the Niger Delta Sports Festival, appealed to athletes in all the various camps and officials to remain calm, as their allowances would be paid before the end of today (Tuesday). He explained that over 4,000 athletes were billed to receive payment through REMITA; hence, their details were being processed at the bank. Over 4,000 people are being paid. Many states only submitted their account details yesterday (Monday). We will pay everyone. Immediately these details are uploaded, they will start receiving alerts. At least, nothing less than six states must receive their payment today,” he assured.
This is an indication that in this country we do not copy good things rather bad things. For years our sports men and women have protested even outside the country because of allowances.
From day one the non-functional agency, Niger Delta Development Agency (NDDC), told the world that it is sponsoring the event probably to redeem its battered image only to fall deeper into another controversy.
As the ceremony was about to start those who hold sway at the board turned emergency
consultants to the detriments lodging their families in costly hotels while the athletics slept at the
comfort of mosquitoes. While the emergency consultants are telling the world that by Tuesday night every-athletics would have been paid after the closing ceremony, what stops these smuggling rats from postponing the closing ceremony for another two days in which the entire athletics would have been paid?
In the history of Nigeria why is it that officials do not protest non- payment of their allowances but the poor athletics? Although, he alleged that Niger Delta Development Commission make the necessary arrangement including the allowances he has forgotten that the management of the Niger Delta Development Commission followed the footstep of Godwin Emefiele, the former Central Bank Governor who introduced cashless policy into the country only to fail woefully by releasing billions of cash to bank managers to exchange without any auditors.
Since nothing good has ever come out of the agency its involvement in the event will not end without protest and here we are. Go round all the nine states in the Niger Delta you will not see any good and durable road constructed by the agency. There is no good clinic that can be comparable and in terms of water provision it is zero.
Rather than close this moribund agency for long, the federal government continue to tolerate it and have gone a step further by approving such agency all over the country as a corruption pipe. If the board of Niger Delta Development Commission are serious minded people without any hidden agenda, why did they not pay the allowances to the account of Uyo and District
Society of ICAN where the executives will be held liable and their certificate withdrawn if found
wanting? The agency will not do that because these groups of Nigerians will not succumb to the dirty game plan of these board members. The districts would have contacted the states involved and three days to the time all the names would have been ready to receive the transfers.
Another beautification of the districts is that the executives would have ensured that on daily basis athletics and others received their allowances rather than deceive the poor athletics to return home empty handed.
Even in football, protest has also rocked the boat. “On Wednesday, the Super Falcons squad refused to leave their hotel rooms to train ahead of Friday’s Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) third-place play-off against Zambia years ago. The players say they have not received their bonus from the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) for qualifying for the tournament, as well as agreed allowances and over $10,000 owed to each of the squad for their three victories in Morocco” and this happened in 2022.
Joseph Esivwenughwu is a Chartered Accountant and former Chairman Okuetolor Community Okpe Local Government Area of Delta State.
For advert media placement, events coverage, media consultancy, placement of publications and further inquiries please WhatsApp 2348023773039 or email: labakevwe@yahoo.com
