The Ministry of Youth and Sports Development has denied asking foreign based athletes going to the Olympic Games in Rio to buy their own air tickets.
The Minister of Youth and Sports Barrister Solomon Dalung made the clarification in a statement following a purported mail asking athletes to buy their tickets to the Olympics and which was said to have originated from the Ministry.
Barrister Dalung stated that the Director, High Performance, Angie Taylor has been saddled with the responsibility of arranging for the flights and movement of the foreign based athletes to and from Rio.
The statement released on Saturday said, “As the overseers of sports in the country, it is our duty to take care of all our athletes. The letter did not come from us and we will investigate the writer of that letter. It does not represent our stand concerning the movement of athletes to Rio and the writer or anybody asking athletes to buy their tickets to Rio will be investigated.
“We ask Nigerians and athletes in particular to disregard the mail,” Dalung said.
Some Nigerian athletes had gone to fund raising website, www.gofundme.com, seeking to raise airfare to the Olympics.
