AFN ex-boss, Ngerem, bankrolls athletes to Abuja trials

Osheku Athletics Academy has received a major boost in its quest to send some of its young athletes to the Nigeria track and field trials which start this weekend in Abuja.
The academy’s young athletes will be sponsored to the trials by Dan Ngerem,arguably the most successful president the
Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) have had in the last two decades.
A delighted chief Tony Osheku, owner of the academy and arguably the most successful coach Nigeria has produced in the last three decades told journalists on Monday after his academy’s training session at the sports ground of the University of Lagos he was not surprised by Ngerem’s gesture.
‘He is very passionate about sports and youth development and people still talk about the giant strides he made when he was president of the AFN,’said Osheku.
Ngerem will pay the travel and accommodation of the few athletes the Osheku Athletics Academy is sending to Abuja to compete for tickets to represent Nigeria at the African Athletics Championships which will hold in Asaba in August.
‘I am happy some of the young athletes in the academy will get the opportunity to compete with more established and experienced stars and get the necessary exposure they will need as they continue to develop,’ who further revealed that the athletes will also get daily allowance courtesy Ngerem.
‘Last year we offered Issac Odugbesan similar exposure and his performance in the Shot Put event where he threw a distance of
16.65m earned him a schorlaship to Middle Tennessee State University in Tennesse,USA.’
‘Today Odugbesan has improved significantly from a 16m thrower to 18m and holds a personal best of 18.72m which he threw last April in Auburn, Alabama, USA,’revealed Osheku whose academy has secured track and field scholarhip for many Nigerian youths mostly through his athletics club,Osheku striders now Osheku Athletics Academy.
Notable among the athletes who he secured scholarship for is Blessing Okagbare unarguably the greatest sprinter Nigeria has ever produced.