FG inaugurates committee to probe Nigeria’s ‘negative exposures’ at Paris Olympics

The federal government has inaugurated a seven-member committee to investigate the country’s “negative exposures” at the recent Olympics and Paralympics in Paris. 

John Enoh, minister of sports development, sent the committee to work at an event on Wednesday at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja.

Mumuni Alao, a veteran Nigerian sports journalist, will chair the investigative panel, while Victor Okangbe will serve as secretary.

Other members are Godwin Enakhena, Aliyu Mohammed, Rakiya Muhammed, Abubakar Ango and Nnene Akudo.

Team Nigeria had a poor outing at the 2024 Paris Olympics, winning zero medals. It was the eighth time the country will return from an Olympics without laurel.

In addition to the abysmal performance, the country also dealt with a handful of controversies at the Games.

The most prominent was the exclusion of Favour Ofili from the women’s 100 meters race despite the athlete qualifying. Another was the revelation by Ese Ukpeseraye that she had to borrow a track bike from the German team to perform in the Keirin cycling event.

At the inauguration of the investigative committee, the sports minister said the nation deserves to investigate these matters to prevent future occurrences.

He urged the committee to be professional and apportion blame no matter who is involved.

On his part, Alao promised that the committee would approach the assignment with commitment and not disappoint the nation.