Nigeria is not short of talents almost in all sporting disciplines, especially areas in which the country has core competence like football, athletics, basketball, wrestling, weightlifting, judo, taekwondo, handball, volleyball, chess, table tennis and a host of others.
In athletics, short distance races and the relays are the strength of the country.
Only recently, Kayinsola Ajayi posted a sub -10 feat of 9.92secs in his first race post-NCAA season. He came first in the race to equal his personal record and that was his 4th sub-10 performance in the new athletics season.
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Also, Team Nigeria’s shot put ace, Chukwuebuka Enekwechi, recorded a stunning performance at the 2025 Prefontaine Classic in Eugene last weekend, breaking the African shot put record with a stunning throw of 22.10m to finish 3rd in the most competitive one-day meet in athletics history. These recent impressive results are enough to show that the country is not lacking in talents.
n the past, Nigerian sprinters were always among the best in the world. They were always in line in every final of the Olympic Games and World Championships while the country’s top sprinters ruled the African continent at the African Games and the Commonwealth Games.
Sadly, in recent years, there has been a sharp decline due to poor vision of the athletics officials, poor welfare package for the athletes and overall mal-administration in the entire system.
Welfare lamentations, unpardonable administrative errors and overall poor planning have characterized sports administration and the athletics federation is one of the top bodies swimming in the rot.
Only recently, sport fans woke up to learn about the decision of sprinter Favour Ofili to dump Nigeria for Turkey as an athlete. On two occasions, the sports administrators failed in their duties to register Ofili properly at the Olympic Games. It happened at the Tokyo Games 2020 and Paris 2024. In France, Ofili was not registered for the 100m and the AFN came out to state that she was registered but perhaps, the error was from the Nigeria Olympic Committee, the custodian body for the country’s contingent to the Olympics. The AFN and the NOC did not handle the issue well and the aftermath was the recent report about a switch of allegiance at a time Ofili has shown promise to be among the best in the world.
During the week, news also broke out about the lamentations of a Nigerian athlete, Nse Uko, banned after three missed whereabouts filings within a 12-month period, which constitutes a doping violation under World Athletics rules. “My messages often went unanswered, leaving me feeling abandoned by the very organisation that is supposed to protect and support athletes.”
She further alleged that during her hearing, representatives from the federation gave unclear responses when asked why they didn’t assist her in overcoming the issues she faced.
In a response, the AFN in a statement said: “Athletes are required to provide their whereabouts information on a quarterly basis: home address, email address, phone number, an address for overnight accommodations, regular activities such as training, work, and school, including their locations and times. She failed to do the needful.”
Let me however state that in the past, the football federation of the country forgot the international passports of the U-17 players in Lagos for a match billed for Ibadan and for this reason, the Nigerian team was walked over in the country and failed to book a ticket to U-17 World Cup finals. There was also the case of Super Eagles shorts that were forgotten in the secretariat of the federation and the players had to play with track downs that were reduced to shorts with scissors. For all of these errors in football and athletics, no one was punished as the issues were swept under the carpet.
Beyond the administrators, the athletes also have their share of blame in taking selfish decisions. Ofili, for example, was reportedly offered $500,000 for the switch and it is all about her future, not only the way she was treated.
Uko herself did not do well by not providing details of her movements as she missed three mandatory tests.
The commitments of these athletes are also important while most of them are also ignorant of current basic information they should have in their respective sport disciplines.
Coaches and technical officials do not have modern knowledge about the sport they administer. There is little or no effort to get domestic athletes busy and expose them to international standards. The few talented ones are also not ready to properly learn the ropes to get better, rather, they want to achieve stardom overnight. Since there is no policy template to run sports in the country, and it is not a surprise that the problems are interwoven here and there in the entire eco-system.
There must be a deliberate plan to right the wrongs in all sports disciplines from the athletes to the administrators.
