In Kaduna, Nimrod appeals to el-Rufai on athletes’ allowance, welfare

 

Chairman of Kaduna State Volleyball Association, Engr. Musa Nimrod, has appealed to Governor Nasir el-Rufai to pay monthly allowance to the state’s top athletes to forestall their poching by other states.  

Nimrod, who is also President of Nigeria Volleyball Federation, said such monthly stipends will help the athletes cater for transportation to training grounds and other personal welfare, while as well helping the state to keep its top athletes away from its rival states. 

Speaking in Kaduna, Nimrod said, “Kaduna state is breeding ground for talents, we would not allow other states poach our athletes as the National Sports Festival is coming in November. We want to appeal to our state government, we want to go back to the old times when athletes are paid monthly stipend as allowance, it will go a long way in boosting the athletes’ performance especially the top athletes who have the talent to win medal for the state at national competitions. 

“It would help us to keep the athletes away from poachers because they feel better to stay in Kaduna than go elsewhere where they have to pay huge amount for accommodation.” 

Also speaking, Chairman of Kaduna State Athletics Association, Alhaji Mohammed Shaibu Suleiman, said the new board will hit the ground running, noting that they have come out with their schedule for 2022 which has been built into the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) programme. 

“This is a festival year, we have the National Sports Festival in November and we are working hard to ensure that Kaduna state give a good account and be among the best states in the competition. We have some challenges but we are trying to see how we can address them to achieve our aims for the year.”