The assistant coach of Nigeria’s women’s basketball team, D’Tigress, Abisola Olajuwon, has expressed her frustrations over their unpaid bonuses after the conclusion of the Paris 2024 Olympics in France.
Despite Team Nigeria’s disappointing overall performance at the Paris 2024 Olympics, where they failed to secure a medal, D’Tigress emerged as a bright spot, making history as the first African nation, male or female, to reach the quarterfinals of the Olympic basketball tournament. D’Tigress’ campaign included a notable victory against Canada in their final group match.
It was reported that Nigeria invested the sum of N12 billion in their Paris Olympics campaign but failed to secure any medals.
However, D’Tigress stood out with their impressive performance, highlighted by a remarkable 75-62 victory over world number three Australia and a hard-fought win against world number five Canada.
According to reports, despite their outstanding performances, the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) and the sports ministry have not fulfilled their promises of paying the team and coaching staff their due bonuses.
Expressing her frustration on social media, Olajuwon said: “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?” wrote Olajuwon, daughter of NBA legend Hakeem Olajuwon, on her social media page.
Olajuwon spoke about her Olympic experience, saying: “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 were young enough to go to the next one. Assistant coaches put blood, sweat, and tears into making sure players accomplished history.”
She highlighted the sacrifices made by the assistant coaches, who worked tirelessly to prepare the contingent for the Olympics.
“Assistant coaches scouting Germany, Serbia, Japan, Australia, France, Canada, and the USA… helped @_coachre Rena Wakama get coach of the year with @fiba. To now lie and not pay your coaches for their work and want to keep my money for the 3 games before the Olympics because I work in the @wnba is sad.
“It is 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 said.
