The Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) has condemned the failure of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) to return the excess of $135,000 dollars which the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) erroneously remitted to it.
Recall that in 2017, the IAAF, while trying to disburse the $15,000 dollars allocated to each of its affiliated federations around the world, erroneously overpaid Nigeria.
Soon after the mistake was discovered, IAAF wrote to its Nigeria’s affiliate body, AFN, to return the excess, to no avail, even reminders and discussions with the sports authorities in the country has not yielded any result.
It is regrettable that the Federation and indeed the Ministry of Sports have for over two years failed to find out how the money developed wings from the accounts of the AFN to the extent that the IAAF has threatened sanctions on Nigeria. In fact, Nigeria is set to be barred from the forthcoming All Africa Games in Morocco this year.
We are even more worried because when the issue broke out, the House of Representatives Committee on Sports said it was going to investigate the matter, but till date nothing has been heard.
