By Ben Efe
With only a month to go, for the Commonwealth Games billed for October 3-14 in New Delhi, India Nigerian elite athletes have vowed not to report to camp unless their allowances from the African Championships in Kenya were paid.

As at yesterday only a handful of athletes were in camp in Oghara, Delta State. The coaches listed for the exercise are still expecting a full house since the camp was opened last Wednesday.

But according to one of the athletes who spoke from his base in the USA yesterday, the invitation to camp might not be honored by the elite athletes as they have not been paid all their allowances from the African Championships.

“Its been three weeks since the African Championships ended in Kenya. Yet nobody is telling us when we would be paid our entitlements.

“For how long must we continue to spend our own money to represent Nigeria,”quarried the athlete.

He said that he and his colleagues would not be motivated to represent Nigeria at the New Delhi Games, unless something was urgently done.

Athletics Federation of Nigeria secretary-general Maria Wophil confirmed that the athletes have not been paid in full as the Federation was still expecting money from the National Sports Commission.

“It was the president of the AFN, Solomon Ogba that made our trip to Nairobi possible. The athletes were not paid all their allowances,” said Mrs. Wophil.

It was not the first time athletes would be going to an international tournament without the support of the NSC.

Last year at the World Championships in Berlin, Germany,  it was like a ‘tornado meeting a volcano’ in the camp of the athletes as there were no funds to meet basic needs, talk-less of paying allowances.

Again, the efforts of Ogba helped as Nigeria went for the championship without support from the NSC.