‘Stop Pricing Athletes Out of the Sport’: Fasuba Slams AFN

Former world indoor 60m champion and three-time African champion, Olusoji Fasuba, has blasted the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) over its decision to impose a ₦15,000 annual registration fee on athletes.

Fasuba, an Olympian and former African 100m record holder, described the policy as exclusionary and harmful to grassroots development in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

‘I support systems that improve Nigerian athletics. I support structure, transparency, and credible athlete registration,’ Fasuba wrote. ‘But charging athletes ₦15,000 per year for registration is not development. It is exclusion.’

He argued that many Nigerian athletes are not professionals and already struggle to afford basic necessities.

‘Some of them can barely afford training kits, spikes, transport, feeding, and basic recovery. So if we introduce a fee that the grassroots cannot afford, what we are really doing is locking the poor out and allowing only the privileged to compete,’ he said.

Fasuba emphasized that athletics has historically thrived on raw talent from humble backgrounds.

‘Nigeria cannot build champions by turning opportunities into a paywall,’ he warned.

While acknowledging the need for reforms to tackle issues such as age cheating, Fasuba insisted that the solution should not punish athletes.

‘If we want to fight age cheating and improve the system, fine. But the solution is simple: subsidise athlete registration. Make registration free for juniors to U20. Fund the platform through sponsors, organisers, and government support. Do not punish athletes for wanting to compete.’

He concluded with a call for fairness: ‘A system should protect athletes, not frustrate them. This is not an attack on reforms. It is a call for fair reforms.’