Events at the 22nd National Sports Festival resumed on Wednesday, albeit nearly four hours behind schedule, following the resolution of a protest by Ogun State athletes over unpaid allowances.
The athletes, who had blocked the gates of the Games Village at Babcock University as early as 5:30 am, reopened access at 12:43 pm after receiving partial payments.
The protest left numerous participants stranded and delayed the day’s activities.
According to reports, the athletes were paid N50,000—part of the N40,000 promised by Governor Dapo Abiodun—and an additional N140,000 as festival allowance.
However, they maintained that the agreed total allowance was N210,000, calculated at N15,000 daily over the 14-day festival.
“We were paid N50,000 this morning, which was the governor’s promise, but to our surprise, they started paying N140,000 as the festival allowance instead of the agreed N210,000,” one protesting athlete said.
Before the festival began, Governor Abiodun had also announced incentives of N2.5 million for each gold medalist, N1.5 million for silver, and N1 million for bronze.
Despite the controversy, Ogun State currently ranks third on the medals table with 48 gold, 38 silver, and 47 bronze medals.
