Nigerian athletes had something to cheer about after some of them received payment from the Athletes Relief Fund which was established to lessen the effect of not being able to compete due to the coronavirus pandemic which has put a stop to sporting activities in Nigeria and globally. Nigeria’s Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr. Sunday Dare, ordered the payment of funds to Nigerian athletes to serve as relief for the meantime. Payments which commenced on Wednesday, April 29, 2020, are drawn from the initiative of the Minister which was created two weeks ago (Athletes Relief Fund, ARF).
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It will be recalled that Mr. Dare had floated a relief fund to aid athletes whose earnings ceased due to COVID-19. In support of the project, a number of sports philanthropists in Nigeria such as the Chairman of Remo Stars Football Club, Honourable Kunle Soname, and a host of others made donations of about 11 million naira as take-off fund for the project. Athletes in the country are being paid the sum of 50,000 naira into their accounts from the Sports Ministry’s Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) account. Over 200 Nigerian sportsmen and women are expected to benefit from the Athletes Relief Fund.
Just like the Nigerian sports ministry, the World Athletics Governing Board on Wednesday, April 29, 2020, floated a similar project to support athletes globally with $500,000 take-off capital. There are high hopes that more donations will be received by the ARF as more needs to be done.
Source
Allafrica
Featured image source: Complete sports
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