MAN OF HIS WORDS? BUHARI FULFILS 31-YEAR-OLD PROMISE TO WINNERS OF THE 1985 FIFA CHAMPIONSHIP

President Buhari rewarded members of the nation’s Under-16 Football Team that won the 1985 FIFA Championship when he was military Head of State, with N2m each. Keeping his words or unnecessary spending??

Back in 1985, he had promised to reward them, but was impeached in a coup before he could fulfill the promise. He announced the rewards at a presidential reception organised for outstanding athletes/officials who did Nigeria proud in recent sports competitions. He also announced a reward of N1.5m each for the team’s coaches.

He however caused a stir when he first mistakenly announced rewards of N200m each for them. Amidst excitement in the hall, Minister of Youth and Sports, Dalung, mounted the podium to correct the error. For the team that won gold medal in the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Chile, Buhari announced rewards of N1.2m each for the players; N900k for the Head Coach; N300k for Team Secretary and medical team as well as N200k each for other officials. 

For the team that won gold medal in the 2015 Africa U-23 Cup of Nations in Senegal, the players and Head Coach got N500k each; while assistant coaches and other team officials got N300k each. Adekoroye Odunayo who won bronze medal in the 2015 World Championship in Las Vegas got N1.2m while her coaches got N600k each. 

For D’Tigers that won gold medal in the 2015 Male Afro-Basketball Tournament in Tunisia, the players and the coaches got N600k each while team officials got N250k each. The players that won silver medal in the 2015 FIBA Africa U-16 Female Championship in Madagascar, and coaches will get N400k each while team officials will get N150k each. 

For the 2015 IPC Asian Open International Powerlifting Championship in Almaty-Kazakhstan, the gold medalists will get N600k each; silver medalists and coaches got N450k each while team officials got N250k each. Wellington Jighere who won gold medal in the 2015 World English Language Scrabble Championship, got N1.5m; his Coach, Anthony Ikolo got N1.2m while the Team Secretary, Makano Adamu got N450,000