With Mike Adeyemi
The anchor of the fund raising which enabled the Nigeria amputee
football team to attend their first amputee World Cup in Mexico in
2018, Fred Edoreh, has alerted the nation on the difficulties being
encountered by Nigeria Paralympic teams in getting funds to attend
various international qualifying competitions at which they are
required to pick and increase their slots to the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic
Games.
In a media chat at the weekend, Edoreh, a former chairman of the Lagos
chapter of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria, pointed out that
while the Paralympics actually begins with participation in various
international qualification competitions, Nigeria Para Sports teams
suffer lack of funding to attend these events and many potential
champions are left behind as a result.
“As we speak, Para Athletics is heading for a Grand Prix in Tunisia
which serves as a qualifier. They had hoped to take about 20 athletes
with the projection of 15 of them garnering qualification points,
considering international records, but the President, Chikwendu Amobi,
has only succeeded in raising personal funds to take just four
athletes. A fifth athlete is being funded by his family. So many
potential winners would therefore suffer the disappointment of being
left behind.
“The next qualifying opportunities will be at another Grand Prix in
Paris in August, the IPC World Championships in Dubai in November and
the first ever Africa Para Games in Morocco in January. Powerlifting
and Para Table Tennis also have their dates. It is of the essence that
they get funding to attend these events to pursue our full potentials
to win medals at the Paralympics, but there is no certainty.
“Equally so, after we struggled to raise funds for the amputee team to
attend their first ever World Cup, after missing out of three previous
editions due to lack of support, they are now again faced with the
challenge of funding to attend the Africa amputee football Nations Cup
in Angola in September as there are no responses yet.
“We need to understand that funding para sports is one of the greatest
goods we can do for our society. The athletes demonstrate courage to
conquer all vicissitudes to achieve and they inspire all other persons
with disability to see that they can reach their dreams no matter
their circumstances. This is a value we must support, share and
instill in our society because it enhances social inclusion. We need
to be socially responsible to provide them the chances. This is how we
build a nation of champions.”
