Olympics D'Tigress: Olajuwon's daughter calls out sports ministry

Abi Olajuwon, daughter of Nigerian-American NBA Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon, has publicly criticized the Nigerian Ministry of Sports for alleged non-payment after her significant contribution to the Nigerian women’s basketball team, D’Tigress, at the Paris 2024 Olympics as an assistant coach.

Under the guidance of FIBA Coach of the Year Reno Wakama, D’Tigress achieved a landmark success by defeating Australia 75-62 in their opening match, marking Nigeria’s first Olympic basketball victory in two decades.

Despite a subsequent loss to France, the team secured a place in the quarter-finals, becoming the first African team, male or female, to reach this stage in Olympic history. The team eventually fell to the USA in the quarter-finals.

Amid the global acclaim for their historic performance, Abi raised concerns about financial discrepancies. She alleged that neither she nor her fellow assistant coaches have received the payments promised by the ministry.

In a public statement, Abi shared her disappointment: “Achieving something at the Olympics that my father did with the USA was a dream come true. Despite the immense effort and dedication of the coaching staff, we are yet to receive the payments due to us. It is disheartening that while players who were paid received less than promised, the assistant coaches have been entirely ignored.”

Abi also revealed that her attempts to address the payment issue through official channels have been met with silence. Additionally, she accused Coach Wakama of removing her from the team’s WhatsApp group after she raised concerns about the outstanding payments.

In her posts, Abi emphasized the lack of communication and transparency regarding the payment process, adding that despite repeated requests for updates over the past two weeks, the solution has been to exclude her from the group chat rather than address the payment issue.

“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. @fiba #yourcoachoftheyear. I’m ok with speaking up when others are scared too. They said I should receive confirmation of what was allotted for staff l, but I guess they will let me know a different way,” she said with receipts from the group posted on her social media page.

The controversy casts a shadow over the team’s celebrated performance and highlights ongoing issues related to the management and compensation of sports staff in Nigeria.