Peter Obi, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, has criticised the Nigerian government following the country’s dismal performance at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Despite investing billions of naira, Team Nigeria ended the Paris Olympic Games without securing a single medal, while nine other African countries achieved podium finishes.
Obi, former governor of Anambra state expressed his frustration, highlighting that this marked the eighth consecutive Olympics where Nigeria failed to win a medal.
He pointed out the stark contrast between Team Nigeria‘s lacklustre performance and the achievements of athletes with Nigerian heritage representing other countries, who won four medals—nearly matching Nigeria’s best Olympic tally.
“We invested about N12 billion into this Olympics, which is almost twice the amount budgeted for the entire Ministry of Science and Technology for this year’s budget. This is over N136 million (about $85,000) spent on each of the 88 Nigerian contingents to the Olympics, and no singular medal was won.
Obi condemned the reckless spending and poor leadership that he believes are responsible for the failure, noting that Jamaica, with significantly lower financial investment, managed to secure six medals.
“Jamaica, a nation which spent far less than we did, a total of about $2300 on each contingent, won 6 medals; 1 Gold, 3 Silver and 2 Bronze at the Olympics. We must now question how we made this huge investment, without getting any returns.”
The politician emphasised the need for Nigeria to prioritise competence and capacity over favouritism to prevent such failures in the future.
“Sad stories like these are only obtainable because we have refused to embrace competence and capacity over favouritism in Nigeria,” he said.
