By Akeem Lawal
ATLANTA 1996 Olympic Games gold medalist, Chioma Ajunwa -Opara,
MON, has urged the federal government to ensure that the Team Nigeria
Paralympic athletes that did the country proud at the just concluded Rio 2016
Paralympic Games are adequately rewarded.
Team Nigeria closed the Rio Paralympics with eight gold,
two silver and two bronze medals to finish 17th in the medal table and top
among African countries during the two-week event that also saw them shatter
six world records.
Ajunwa has now joined the growing number of Nigerians
calling on the government to reward the Paralympic athletes by providing them
with decent accommodation and scholarships.
“The paralympians should be honoured because they have
made the country proud,” begins the former long jump specialist.
“I was so happy when I saw some of them speaking very
good English and I know that some of them were not educated. So Nigeria government
should start by giving them scholarships, provide them an apartment where they
can live. Even if it is one bedroom flat,
government should provide it for them to be comfortable. Then they will
continue to do what they do best.
“We saw the People's Republic of China winning over 200
medals, it didn’t just come like that. Their paralympians were living very
comfortably and Nigerian government should be able to do that for our athletes
too,” the former athlete noted.
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