Lagos – A national sprint coach, Saheed Akinpelu, on Monday appealed to states and Local Governments to assist potential athletes to participate in competitions without relying solely on the Federal Government.

Akinpelu, who spoke in Lagos, urged the two tiers of governments to make it a duty to sponsor such athletes.

“When you have potential athletes you should help to sponsor such talented athletes, without getting the FG involved.

“Many talented athletes have been discovered by coaches at the Local Governments. The Olympics will hold in August, we are yet to see any major preparation from the centre.

“In such a case, a State Government can assist to sponsor athletes from his state to participate in competitions as a form of preparation.”
He said that Nigeria was also blessed with good coaches, stressing that a lack of decentralisation of duty was not making the efforts of coaches to be recognised.

“There are good coaches in the country and most of the athletes have belief in us. If we are not good enough, those athletes discovered here will not be doing well outside.

“In our country, we are the coach and physiotherapist. We are doing different things compared to our specialty. Jack of all trade is not making our effort visible,” he said.