D’Tigress Coaches haven’t been paid after Olympics historical feat

[justseyi]

Abiola Juwon, the assistant coach of Nigeria’s female basketball team, D’Tigress, has publicly accused the country’s sports ministry of failing to pay her bonuses. In a series of Instagram posts made on Wednesday night, she alleged that the Nigerian authorities paid the players less than half of what they were promised.

D’Tigress made history at the 2024 Olympics by becoming the first African team to reach the quarter-final stage of the competition. However, according to Juwon, this achievement has been overshadowed by the maltreatment of the team players and staff due to unpaid bonuses.

In her Instagram posts, Juwon expressed frustration over the situation, stating that the assistant coaches, including herself, had not received any bonuses and that their repeated requests to the sports ministry had been ignored. She wrote: “To go to the Olympics and experience something my father did with the USA was a dream. I wanted to be at the Opening Ceremony since I was 8 at the Atlanta Olympics, but Nigeria denied women’s basketball and then had the Minister tell us we are young enough to go to the next one.”

She highlighted the hard work of the assistant coaches, who helped the team achieve its historic performance by preparing against top teams such as Germany, Serbia, Japan, Australia, France, Canada, and the USA. She also mentioned that their efforts contributed to Coach Rena Wakama being named Coach of the Year by FIBA.

Juwon criticized the ministry for not only failing to pay the coaches but also withholding her earnings for the three games prior to the Olympics because of her work in the WNBA. “It’s sad players (the ones who got paid) got less than what was promised by the Ministry. It is also sad that the assistant coaches aren’t getting our money (that was promised) at all and are now being ignored. We made history… Give what was Promised,” she added.

Additionally, Juwon revealed that the team’s head coach, Rena Wakama, was removed from the team’s WhatsApp group due to her persistent complaints about the team’s mistreatment. She wrote about the lack of communication and updates regarding the payment of allowances and criticized the ministry’s handling of the situation: “Asking for updates for over two weeks about payment of allowances and being ignored privately and in the group text… Is the solution to pay your assistant coaches their ‘allowances’ for their work??? Nope! Have the Head Coach remove you from the group chat.”

In the wake of these revelations, there has been a public outcry in Nigeria, with many demanding the resignation of the Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Enoh, following the disappointing performance of the country’s athletes at the Paris Olympics. SaharaReporters previously reported that the government had expressed deep disappointment over the team’s performance, describing it as a “disaster.”

Omoyele Sowore, the convener of the #RevolutionNow Movement, also called for Enoh’s immediate dismissal following Team Nigeria’s poor showing at the event. Despite these calls for his resignation, the minister has so far refused to step down.

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