Dwarf athlete Onye laments non-payment of Buhari money
2 min read
Dwarf athlete, Lauritta Onye, has lamented the non-payment of money entitled to her three months after President Muhammadu Buhari rewarded the country’s outstanding sportsmen and women in January.
Onye, who specialises in field events discus and shot put, set a new world record, as she won Nigeria’s only medal, a gold, at the 7th IPC Athletics World Championships in Doha, Qatar, last year.
The feat earned her a spot amongst outstanding athletes that were rewarded by Buhari but the athlete said she and her coach, Patrick Anaeto, as well as Secretary of the Para-athletics Federation of Nigeria, Olabisi Aziz, had not been paid even though officials of the sports ministry collected their bank account numbers with a promise to pay them their money.
The 1.25ft tall Onye happily posted the picture of herself and the President on the podium at the reward ceremony in Abuja, on her Facebook page, but now she lamented that she had not been given her money.
“On that day I was called to have a handshake with the President. But later they realised my name was not mentioned but my picture was on the brochure of the athletes that should be rewarded. My picture was the last,” Onye, who has also made her mark in the Nollywood industry, said.
“They didn’t announce the amount they will pay us but the woman from the sports ministry collected my account number and that of my coach and the PFN secretary but ever since, we haven’t heard anything about the money.”
She added that she had planned to use the money to prepare for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio but has now found preparations difficult and appealed to the Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung, to help her in recovering her money.
“I feel bad that others have been paid and I have not been paid. They should pay my money because I’m preparing for the Olympics and I need money to train, eat good food and take care of myself. I’m finding it difficult to train because there’s nobody to help me out. My kits are spoilt and torn; sometimes I train without eating. We always want the best but don’t give the best to athletes. I’m begging the sports minister to help facilitate the release of the money,” she added.
