Rio Olympics: Shabby preparations and power supply

The greatest games in the world would soon commence, where the attention of the world would concentrate at football crazy nation of Brazil. World’s top sports men and women would compete for laurels and new talents would be discovered in various sports. Nigeria would be amongst the countries participating in some of the events but […]

The greatest games in the world would soon commence, where the attention of the world would concentrate at football crazy nation of Brazil.
World’s top sports men and women would compete for laurels and new talents would be discovered in various sports.
Nigeria would be amongst the countries participating in some of the events but preparations for the Rio Olympics have been shoddy and uninspiring.
The possibility of Nigeria making any impact at the global events is slim. And as usual the pulse is racing and blood pressure of sporting fans across the country is rising high.
Nigerians would be glued to their television to watch matches at the wee hours of the night.  Football which would capture the imagination of many has been marred by shabby preparation.
The coach of the U-23 national team, Samson Siasia, has been facing many problems, ranging from clubs refusing to release their players to lack of motivation from the Sports Ministry.
The inability of the football authorities to pay the coach his salaries, non-payment of players’ camp allowances coupled with the fact that the team had been stranded at Atlanta in USA few hours before their opening game against Japan, has dampened the morale of the players.
Meanwhile, the prospect of having stable electricity to enable Nigerians watch the games is hampered by epileptic power supply across the country.
As the Rio Olympics gets underway and despite the usual fire brigade approach, Nigerian athletes, I believe, would put in their best efforts in bringing glory to the entire country.
One hopes that at the end of the Rio Olympics Nigeria would be in joyful mood like what happen in Atlanta twenty year ago.

Bala Nayashi, Lokoja,
Kogi State