Better days awaits any Nigerian athletes to the 9th All Africa Games in Algiers that wins gold medal in any event as Team Nigeria Trust Fund Limited has lined up scholarships as part of the incentives for the country to win the Games back to back.

Speaking after its board meeting in Lagos yesterday, Chief Molade Okoya-Thomas, deputy chairman of Team Nigeria said that the need to encourage Nigerian athletes to combine sports with education informed the choice of scholarship.

"Any athlete who wins gold at the Games in Algiers will enjoy scholarship from Team Nigeria Trust Fund while other incentives also await those already out of school," said the Lagos high chief who stood in for Dr. Peter Odili, who was unavoidably absent from the board meeting.

Chief Okoya-Thomas revealed that the N5 million the former National Sports Trust Fund invested in two banks over the years has yielded a profit of N44 million which has already been handed over to the present board.

"It was to avoid duplication that the fund had to be transferred to the Team Nigeria Trust Fund Limited when it was created," stressed Chief Okoya.

Suleiman Baba Ali, managing director of Team Nigeria in his assessment of the nine months existence of the body insisted that the trust fund has done well in the task of alleviating government the burden of solely financing sports.

"Within this short period, we have been able to help our athletes like the case of Olusoji Fasuba who Skye Bank bankrolled his training programme in Europe to the tune of $10,000. Also, we assisted in the hosting of the SCSA Zone 3 Games in Abuja as well as went on tour of all the camps of the athletes to know their problems and try to solve them were possible ahead of the Games in Algiers," he stressed.

The Team Nigeria Managing Director assured Nigerians that the country would perform creditably in Algiers because the training and preparation have been excellent.

"We are going to do well in Algiers. There is no reason to be worried and above all, as soon as we conclude discussions, we are going to announce the insurance package for the athletes in addition to other incentives to further motivate them," concluded the former Kogi State health commissioner.

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