Nigeria’s Sports Ministry in Disarray over ‘Sharing’ of US$135,000 IAAF Money

The kind of stories that come out of Africa involving corruption and financial mismanagement is often annoying, but those involving Nigeria are often the most annoying.

You will recall reports from Nigeria in the past where government officials had attributed missing funds from government accounts to the sudden disappearance of claimed cash kept in vaults were swallowed up by snakes or monkeys.

Well, in this case, the top sports officials and management of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) are yet to tell us how US$135,000 IAAF money disappeared from its accounts, but they admit the money is no longer there!

In 2017, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) mistakenly sent $150,000 to a bank account belonging of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, instead of the annual $15,000 it was supposed to send as support funding for its affiliates.

Rather than alert the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and thinking the IAAF will not notice the error, top officials of the sports ministry and athletics federation shared the money among themselves.

This goes a long way in showing the level of decadence in the African leadership sphere, and it is sad that many Africans in high positions act without any form of consideration to morals and values.

The Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) members who participated in 'sharing' the US$135,000 in grants by the world athletics ruling body, IAAF, have been given three days to refund the money or resign from their positions in the troubled federation.

The Sports Ministry's permanent secretary gave the directive; it was gathered, after an emergency meeting of the AFN board this week.

Since the announcement, members of both the AFN and the sports ministry have been running from pillar to post pointing accusing fingers at each other on how the funds were shared.

"It is an embarrassment to this country what has been going on in the AFN. Those who have shared the money must have to refund it or they should just honorably resign from the board," a top sports ministry official confirmed yesterday.

The IAAF had given Nigeria two weeks starting from May 15 to refund the money or face sanctions - a threat which many experts have translated to mean a ban of the country from participating in international events.

Wonders shall never cease.

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Image Header Credit: AS English