AFN gambles athletes’ futures with last-minute chaos: Trials announced, venue unknown
Barely four days before the commencement of Nigeria’s most important athletics event of the year, the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) has thrown the track and field community into disarray with its vague announcement regarding the much-anticipated national trials.
Shared via the federation’s Facebook page at 5:54 p.m., the message confirmed that the ‘All Nigeria National Trials’ — formerly known as the Nigerian Track and Field Championships — will take place from July 31st to August 2nd.
However, in a move that has drawn widespread condemnation, the federation failed to disclose the venue of the event, fueling speculation, frustration, and fear across the athletics ecosystem.
This latest episode is a painful continuation of AFN’s apparent lack of coordination, foresight, and transparency.
Athletes and coaches, many of whom had been awaiting logistical details for weeks, now face the impossible task of restructuring travel, training schedules, and accommodations.
The situation is compounded by the rejection of the MKO Abiola Sports Arena as a potential host due to substandard track conditions that led World Athletics to invalidate results from the recently concluded CAA U18 and U20 Championships held there.
What’s more alarming is the backdrop against which this crisis unfolds. With only a handful of days left for qualification ahead of the Tokyo World Championships, Nigeria’s chances of fielding relay teams in five key events hang by a thread.
The men’s 4x100m team must now break the national record to stand a chance of qualifying, while the women must run faster than Ivory Coast’s blistering 42.63 seconds, to also stand a chance of making it to Tokyo in September.
The men’s and women’s 4x400m teams also face daunting qualification targets — the men must run faster than 2:59.12 to stand a chance of qualifying while the women must break 3:25.00to also put themselves in contention — all while racing against time and organizational chaos.
Stakeholders are furious over the AFN’s missed opportunities. The federation failed to register teams for any of the post-NCAA meets across the United States and neglected to mobilize a group of elite Nigerian sprinters competing in Europe, squandering potential qualification routes.
Many see this not just as negligence, but as a reflection of a federation lacking strategic direction.
The cumulative effect of these failures has led to calls for the National Sports Commission to intervene and take over the operations of the AFN.
Described by critics as a “fire brigade federation,” the AFN now faces an unprecedented crisis of credibility at a moment when athletes should be focused on performance, not logistics.
