What do you believe is the single most important factor driving up the cost of living in Nigeria?

For the eighth time in the country’s Olympic history, which began in Helsinki in 1952, Nigeria failed to win a medal at the just-concluded 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

The failures began with the country’s debut in 1952, which was followed by more fruitless outings at Melbourne 1956, Rome 1960, Mexico 1968, Moscow in 1980, Seoul in 1988, and London 2012.

This failure is particularly alarming because of the amount of money, N9bn, from a total budget of N12bn that was approved for Nigeria’s participation. The remaining N3bn is said to be for the Paralympics, which begin in 15 days.

Coincidentally, the 88 athletes on parade for Nigeria in 12 sports in Paris is also the largest contingent the country has ever presented at the Games.

From a neutral point of view, the N9bn expended on the fruitless outing in Paris is a whopping amount of money, which could build different kinds of infrastructure for people in dire need. In a country where the World Bank projects about 40.7 per cent of the over 200 million population to live below the international poverty of $2.15 per person per day by the end of 2024, that’s too much money for a jamboree in the name of participating at the Olympics.

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