Lauritta Onye Calls Out Dalung Over N2m Bonus After 11 Years

Eleven years after winning a gold medal at the 2015 IPC World Championships in Doha, Qatar, Paralympic champion Lauritta Onye has spoken out about not receiving a promised N2m cash reward. This reward was supposed to go to her and her late coach, Patrick Anaeto, from former President Muhammadu Buhari, according to The PUNCH.

Onye won gold in the F40 shot put event with a throw of 7.72m on her first attempt. Her closest rival, Lara Baars from the Netherlands, had a best throw of 6.80m, which was a European record, but she still finished almost a metre behind Onye.

In January 2016, during a presidential reception for outstanding Nigerian athletes, Onye’s name appeared in the official brochure. But she did not receive any cash reward, while athletes in football, basketball, wrestling, scrabble, and powerlifting got prizes between N500,000 and N2m each.

Onye took to Facebook to accuse former Minister of Youth and Sports Development Solomon Dalung of not fulfilling the promise. “The money is N2m, N1.1m for me and N900,000 for my coach. It was the money awarded to me by the late President Buhari for winning gold at the 2015 World Championship. It was also at the event that the President hosted the 1985 footballers and other sportsmen who represented the country during that period,” Onye told The PUNCH.

Onye added that even though she was listed among the honourees in the event brochure, she only got a handshake from the President. “When I was in camp for the Rio 2016 Paralympics, the minister came and I asked him about the money. He promised that I was going to be paid in Brazil. They even offered to pay me there while saying my coach would be paid when we returned to Nigeria.

“But I refused, asking that the money be paid directly into our accounts like every other beneficiary. The minister then told me to remind him when we got back to Nigeria. As soon as we returned, I started calling and sending him messages, but he never responded. There was even a time I saw him at the National Stadium in Lagos. He again asked me to call him, but he never picked my calls or replied to my messages.”

Dalung, however, denied Onye’s claims, saying she was not among those who were supposed to get cash rewards at the event. “Late President Buhari hosted the 1985 Golden Eaglets who won the World Cup. I can remember the hosting of athletes in 2016. Only the Golden Eaglets were given cash; others received presidential handshakes. I don’t know of any athlete that got cash gifts,” Dalung told The PUNCH.

He also said he had no role in processing such payments. “In any case, I have no business with financial administration. That is the responsibility of the accounting officer, the Permanent Secretary and the federation.”

While Dalung said only the 1985 Golden Eaglets were rewarded, checks by The PUNCH showed that the Federal Government also rewarded the 2015 Golden Eaglets, who won the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Chile. Players of Nigeria’s U-16 women’s basketball team, D’Tigers, wrestler Odunayo Adekuoroye, scrabble champion Wellington Jighere, and members of the powerlifting team that competed at the 2015 IPC Asian Open International Powerlifting Championship in Kazakhstan were also rewarded during the ceremony on January 21, 2016, at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

When asked if he remembered ever promising Onye that the money would be paid during any of their meetings, Dalung said, “I don’t know your understanding of my status. Did she show you any letter of request for the said award? And if not, do not disturb my time of sleep.”

The Ministry of Youth and Sports Development has now been split, with the sports part under the National Sports Commission, led by Chairman Shehu Dikko and Director General Bukola Olopade. The PUNCH has contacted the NSC to check the records of athletes and coaches rewarded during the January 2016 ceremony.