Engr. ‘Dayo Akindoju, the President of the Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF) has revealed that the organization of the recently held Junior ITF Circuit event in Abuja did not cost less than N10million.
In a chat with Nigeria Tennis Live, he explained that the federation has not received any dime from the ministry in two years.
He stated in clear terms that the junior ITF competition gulped a minimum of N10million, as the youngsters who were invited had to be properly taken care of, as well as officials and other logistics.
Speaking on how he has had to source for funds to get the federation working, Engr. Akindoju, the sole sponsor of the annual Dayak ITF World Tour competition, noted that when people don’t know how much they’re doing as a federation, they tend to not understand their pains.
“The federation has not received a dime from the ministry in two years, and we have been running during this period.
“When we tell people that we’ve been sourcing for funds to run the federation, it sounds like we are not telling the truth,” the NTF president said.
On how they got money to run the junior ITF Circuit, he said: “I had to rally round to meet my close associates here and there for funds, because we had to organize the competition.
“It did not cost less than N10million in total, but we thank God that we pulled through.
“How do you expect teams to prepare for tournaments if we don’t have money at the federation level?”
Meanwhile, Nigerian players are presently gearing up for the last two tournaments of the year after the ongoing Dala Hard Court competition in Kano.