ISSUES WITH FAVOUR OFILI

Sporting authorities should put their house in order

The World Athletics’ Nationality Review Panel recently refused the applications of Nigerian sprinter, Favour Ofili and 10 other athletes seeking to transfer their allegiance to Türkiye. In reaching that decision, the world track and field ruling body frowned at government-backed strategies to recruit foreign athletes with lucrative contracts. Such move, according to WA, “Undermines the integrity of national competitions; discourages countries from developing homegrown talent and risks replacing local athletes with imported competitors.” These are genuine reasons.

The failed Ofili’s bid has for now denied the athlete the opportunity that she has been looking for to get back at the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) officials who scuttled her participation in two Olympic Games’ 100 metres event that she qualified for – Tokyo 2020 and the Paris 2024. According to World Athletics, the decision to reject the switching of Ofili and the 10 other athletes (five Kenyans, four Jamaicans and One Russian), followed a review of the applications submitted by the Türkiye Athletics Federation, all linked to a government-backed recruitment drive ahead of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.

Over the years, several nations have fought against this nationality eligibility rule that allows athletes that have disagreements with their federations to switch to other countries. In the past, Nigeria had lost such talents as Glory Alozie to Spain; Francis Obikwelu to Portugal; Ebelechukwu Agbapuonwu (now Salwa Eid Naser) to Bahrain, Femi Ogunode to Qatar; and countless others. These athletes won laurels for their adopted countries even when Nigeria brought them out of obscurity.

 It is therefore a bold move by the World Athletics to block countries from reaping where they did not sow. Governments should support homegrown talents and fund the development of sports at the grassroots rather than look for readymade athletes to poach for glory. Attempting to poach 11 athletes in one swoop is a desperate move by the Turkiye Athletics Federation to cut corners to victory at the next Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028. It seeks to benefit the way Bahrain did with Eid Naser who won gold medal for the country at the 2019 World Championship in Doha, Qatar.

In the case of Ofili, those familiar with her case may feel she deserves every move to dump Nigeria for Turkiye given the manner she was treated by the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) in two instances. Ofili was one of the nine Nigerian athletes who were refused participation at the Tokyo Games because of the negligence of the AFN to conduct three out-of-competition pre-Olympics drug tests. That explains why at Paris 2024, Ofili was not entered to run the women’s 100 metres race that she had qualified for. And she was not informed until she discovered just hours to the event that she was not eligible to run because the AFN failed to register her. Till date, nobody has been held accountable for this negligence or deliberate act of denying Ofili the chance to race in the event she sweated to qualify for at the Games.

  Sporting authorities in Nigeria must put their house in order. There is no reason why there should be no better handling of welfare of elite and upcoming athletes by the National Sports Commission (NSC) through its national federations. Officials found culpable in the poor handling of athletes’ welfare must also be held accountable to serve as deterrent to others. Only this can minimise issues of Nigerian athletes switching to other countries. But now that the World Athletics has blocked Ofili from switching to Turkiye, there should be a deliberate move to sort out her grievances and reintegrate her back to the Nigerian track and field family