BUHARI HONOURS 1985 EAGLETS, OTHERS

Buhari and the 1985 Golden eaglets. Photo- completesport.com

It was like a dream come through for the 1985 Golden Eaglets of Nigeria as President Muhammadu Buhari  fulfill  the pledged  he made 31 years ago.

The 1985 Golden Eaglets  are:

1 Lucky AGBONSEVAFE
2 Tenworimi DUERE
3 Nduka UGBADE
4 Fatai ATERE
5 Binabei NUMA
6 Kingsley AIKHIONBORE
7 Salisu NAKADE
8 Sani ADAMU
9 Jonathan AKPOBORIE
10 Victor IGBINOBA
11 Billa MOMOH
12 Imama AMAPAKABOR
13 Baudwin BAZUAYE
14 Joseph BABATUNDE
15 Chukwuma NWOHA
16 Mohamed YAHAYA
17 Hilary ADIKI
18 Dele ABUBAKAR

Coach:  Sebastian BRODERICK IMASUEN (NGA)

1985 Golden Eaglets being honoured by Buhari in 2016. Photo- goal.com

Each player got a sum of #2Million and the next of kin of late Kingsley Aikhionbare who happs to be his mother collected the token with much of emotions.

The Coaches- Christian Chukwu and Sebastian Broderick and Barak Zamaki got a sum of #.5 million.

The president also seize the opportunity to honour all athletes who have made the nation proud in one sporting event or the other including the Players and handler of the 2015 Caf U23 Championship  got N500,000 each while N300,000 went to the assistant coaches and other officials.

N1.2 million went to players of the 2015 Fifa U17 World Cup winning Golden Eaglets in Chile, while head coach Emmanuel Amuneke got N900,000 and N600, 000 went to the assistant coaches while 300,000 each went to the team secretary and medical teams and other backroom staff got 200,000 each.

According to Buhari, “

"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. 

"This administration wants a change in the way we do things. We must strive to the in the way we manage our time, financial and physical resources to ensure we success in the next Olympics. We must aim for optimal performance in all international competitions.

"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,” Buhari concluded.