The six medals won at Atlanta 1996 - two golds, one silver and three bronzes - marks the West African nation’s strongest performance at a Games in 15 appearances.

Among Nigeria’s medal hopes in Rio is track and field athlete Blessing Okagbare, who won long jump bronze at Beijing 2008.

Gumel’s confidence of success comes despite the fact that Nigeria failed to win any medals at London 2012.

Triple jumper Tosin Oke, the women's 4x100 metres sprint relay team, and under 77 kilograms weightlifter Felix Ekpo qualified successfully for the final rounds of their respective events, but missed out on the podiums.

Okagbare could only manage 17th position in long jump qualifying, while taekwondo player Chika Chukwumerije, a bronze medallist at Beijing 2008, was knocked out in the first round of the over 80kg event.

Goodluck Jonathan, then Nigeria’s President, ordered a comprehensive restructuring of sport in the country following their failure to win a medal at the Olympics for the first time since 1988.

He was succeeded last May by Muhammadu Buhari, who bid farewell to the Nigerian athletes that will be competing at Rio 2016 during a recent ceremony in Abuja.

Speaking at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Buhari urged athletes to preserve the "good image" of the country at next month’s Games.

"The eyes of the global community are on you and as such, you should desist from acts that could dent the image of our great country, Nigeria," Buhari was reported as saying by Vanguard News.

"You are very aware of recent doping allegations which cast aspersions not only on the individual athletes but on their home countries.

"Please keep Nigeria clean."