VIDEO: Protest as Cross River Refuses to Pay Athletes Representing State at Niger Delta Sports Festival
The Government of Governor Bassey Edet Otu in Cross River State, has been alleged of refusing to pay the allowances of athletes representing the State at the Niger Delta Sports Festival.
In a video circulating on social media, the athletes have protested, demanding their allowances.
According to the video, a man whose identity, PIJAlance could not ascertain, claimed he is the special adviser to the Governor and was seen urging the athletes to exercise patience as regards to the payments.
The man apparently promised that the athletes will get all their allowances paid once they get to Calabar which is the capital city of the state.
But the athletes were unwilling to wait. One of them who were making a video stated behind the camera that if the payment were not made, the video will be posted and shared across social media platforms.
PIJAlance found the video 11 hours after it was posted by Instablog9ja. Based on this, it is believed that the video was eventually made public after the government still failed to salvage the grievances of the athletes.
Several attempts to interview any of the athletes proved completely unproductive because none were readily available to speak as of the time of filing this report.
The Cross River State Government has yet to release an official statement regarding the incident. Meanwhile, the Cross River State Commissioner of Information, Honourable Erasmus Ekpang, told PIJAlance, during a telephone interview that the athletes have been paid.
Honourable Ekpang said that the trending video was posted yesterday and is not related to Wednesday’s development, “since they’ve been paid.”
The Niger Delta Sports Festival is an annual tournament where Niger Delta States come together to compete in various forms of games.
Each State in the Region, numbering nine: Cross River, Edo, Delta, Abia, Imo, Bayelsa, River, Akwa-Ibom and Ondo States—are expected to produce State representatives for the tournament.
Out of all the representatives, reports noted that only the Cross River representatives who are athletes, complained about not getting their allowances as and when due.
Worthy of note, Cross River State Government budgeted ₦666,000,000 for sports commission in 2025 State’s appropriation.
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