Incredible: Okowa says getting athletes to secure track scholarships abroad is one of his greatest achievements as AFN President
Athletics Federation of Nigeria, AFN, President, Tonobok Ojuru Okowa says one of his biggest achievements is helping Nigerian track and field athletes’ secure scholarship to study and compete in the United States of America, USA.
Okowa says he deserves another term as president of the AFN on account of this ‘spectacular’.
‘What we are doing in the Federation right now is critical to the success we all yearn for in athletics and Nigerian sports in general. We have laid a solid foundation through our ‘GET OUR ATHLETES IN SCHOOL’ program.
‘The ‘GET OUR ATHLETES IN SCHOOL’ program has helped a good number of athletes to secure scholarships and admission into American Colleges and Universities, and they have been combining their academics with sports seamlessly,’ Okowa was quoted as saying in a number of online reports.
Athletics stakeholders are flabbergasted and bewildered that the President of AFN could list an event outside the purview of the AFN as a success.
‘I am definitely sure the President was misquoted. How is Okowa or the AFN connected with individual athletes securing scholarships to study and run in the USA? He and his board should be telling us what they have done to develop track and field at home,’ said an athlete who begged not to be named for the fear of being persecuted.
A coach from the northern part of Nigeria who also preferred to be anonymous wants Okowa to list what he has done for distance runners in Nigeria.
‘Like some of his predecessors, Okowa has done nothing to help develop distance running in Nigeria. Not a seminar, not one competition was held during his four years as AFN President, and he feels proud to abdicate his responsibilities by claiming victory, as it were, in athletes securing scholarships to run in the USA as if the trend started with him.
‘Does he not know Nigerian athletes started benefitting from track scholarships since the 1970s? Now I know why the Federation has not progressed since he took over as president in 2021.’
When contacted, a former member of the board of the AFN (names withheld) expressed surprise with the ‘GET OUR ATHLETES IN SCHOOL’ programme Okowa is suddenly talking about at the tail end of his Presidency.
‘This is the first time I am hearing that.. I was reliably told it was never discussed at the AFN board meetings or even the Congress. I think our president does not know he is ridiculing himself by claiming athletes gaining scholarships abroad as his success.
‘What he should be talking about is the programmes he has launched to provide an enabling environment for athletes and coaches to thrive at home, turn the sport into business so that it can start contributing to the GDP of the country.
‘We are all living witnesses to how the Premium Trust Bank sponsorship deal has been mismanaged to the extent that the President could approve the payment of N40m to himself, claiming it was a loan he gave to the Federation despite an audit committee report to the contrary,’ said the former board member who is seeking a return to the board in the forthcoming elections.
