Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare has condemned the unpleasant treatment of the national women senior football team, the Super Falcons on their return to Nigeria from Cote’d Ivoire.
The Falcons were reportedly delayed for hours and subjected to traumatic experience at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja due to some unclear COVID-19 protocols early hours of Thursday.
The Nigerian girls were returning to Nigeria from Abidjan, few hours after picking a priceless ticket to the African Women Cup of Nations tournament to be hosted in Morocco in July.
In widely circulated videos trending on social media, the footballers and their officials were seen going through difficult times at the airport.
They were delayed for about three to four hours owing to COVID-19 protocols and later the locking up of all terminal exit doors for a totally different reason.
One of the players, Uchenna Kalu was seen lying on the floor, in pain and dire need of medical attention.
The minister in a statement on Thursday described the incident as unfortunate, noting that a complete account of what happened has been received by his office.
He said the Ministry will send its findings to the National Centre of Disease Control (NCDC) and the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to thoroughly investigate the matter and ensure that our sports men and women are treated fairly and respectfully.
Dare said the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) will also meet with the relevant authorities to review and ensure that this type of situation does not happen again.
The Super Falcons on Wednesday defeated their host, the Lady Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire 1-0 at the Stade Robert Champroux, Abidjan to qualify for the 2022 Women Africa Cup of Nations Championship slated for Morocco in July.
The Falcons had earlier beaten their opponent 2-0 in the first leg played in Abuja.(NAN)