Revealed! Faces of Beneficiaries of President Buhari's Sports Heroes Cash Rewards in Abuja (Photos) ~ NAIJA JET

Revealed! Faces of Beneficiaries of President Buhari's Sports Heroes Cash Rewards in Abuja (Photos)

President Buhari greets the 'Special athletes'

President Muhammad Buhari finally kept good his promise to host the all-conquering Golden Eaglets after their return from Chile last November as he also hosted other deserving sportsmen and women at the Aso Villa Banquet Hall yesterday in a star-studded event.

There were murmurs of disapproval across the country when the players were sent away with N20,000 each on return to Abuja, with the government rejecting a reward package proposed by the Sports minister. But the presidency quickly moved to quash the rumours by announcing a banquet for January 21 in their honour.

Members of the victorious U-17 team

It certainly wasn’t the 'Naira rain' of times past as the economic realities do not allow for such today, but they victorious lads were feted by the president with a charge to reach the pinnacle of their chosen careers.

Also honoured was the victorious Nigerian team to last year’s Special Olympics in California, where the nation bagged 71 medals including 34 gold medals.

Kelechi Nwakali

"It gladdens my heart to play host to our athletes who have made the nation proud at various international competitions. Nigerian athletes have defiled challenges and always demonstrated that the Nigerian spirit is indomitable.

On behalf of all Nigerians, I wish to express my appreciation to our athletes and officials for their consistency, determination, willpower and commitment for success witnessed in recent times. I urge the managers of this sector [Sports] to keep up with the momentum.

I wish to assure the federal government will not relent in its efforts to ensure our sports men and women continue to excel in international competitions. I’m particularly concerned about our participation at the forthcoming Rio 2016 Olympics Games.

Our sour experience at the London 2012 Olympics Where Nigerian athletes failed to make it to the podium," the president said.

He added; "I wish to remark that this day event is special to me because God granted me the privilege to fulfill my promise in 1985 to all the winners of the maiden edition of the Fifa U17 World Championship. The reasons for the 30 years delay is well known.

It is sad to note that a member of the team [Awa Ubare] is not here today. In line with our belief that the labour of our heroes past should never be in vain, we want to say thank to our 1985 Golden Eaglets for the success."

Below are photos of all the Nigerian heroes that were honoured at the event;