By BEN EFE
A group of Nigerian athletes based in the USA are asking questions about their Mobil Championships prize monies that weren’t settled between 2006-2008.

The athletes include Nurudeen Selim, Jessica Ohanaja, Toyin Augustus and others who participated at the Mobil Championships in the said period, but were not paid their winnings ranging from N50, 000 to N30,000.

It was gathered that these athletes could not collect their prizes, because they do not have domestic bank accounts. However, three years have past and there is no word yet on what has happened to the money, which was paid by the sponsor into the account of the consultant that was in charge of the championships in the said period.

“We have indeed received letters from a group of athletes concerning their unpaid winnings. The way we operate is that all funds meant for the championships are handled by the consultant. We have launched an inquiry into what happened and we a await a response from the consultant,” said Mobil’s spokesman Nigel Cookeygham.

And the consultant in question is Rotimi Obajimi. All efforts to get him to explain what is holding up the athletes money did not yield any result. He wouldn’t answer his calls nor reply the email that was sent to his box.

Athletics Federation of Nigeria secretary-general, Maria Wophil stated that the federation was not involved in the transaction and so Mr. Obajimi is in best position to find a solution to the problem.

“I think what happened was that the athletes didn’t have an account in Nigeria and there was no way they could cash the their cheques. However, the consultant is in the best position to answer all inquiries concerning the athletes prize money,” said Mrs. Wophil.

For the year 2009 and 2010 the US-based athletes did not encounter such problem. Their winnings were paid promptly, by the consultant Mr. Paul Bassey.