Panel recommends 3-year ban for indicted coaches, says Okowa’s AFN operating without a reliable athlete database
The Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) Investigative Committee on Athletes Age Discrepancy has extended its recommendations beyond athletes, targeting coaches, administrators, and state associations implicated in the age-cheating inquiry.
For coaches found to have facilitated, encouraged, or knowingly presented false or inconsistent age documentation, the panel has proposed a three-year suspension from all AFN-sanctioned activities, including coaching, training, registering, and supervising athletes.
Their coaching licenses and accreditations would be withdrawn for the duration of the sanction, and reinstatement would only be possible after mandatory ethics and integrity re-certification.
The panel also introduced an escalation clause, warning that repeat or systemic violations could attract longer bans, including lifetime suspension.
While investigations continue, coaches directly involved in registration processes are to be publicly reprimanded, with the warning that any future violations will result in stiffer penalties.
The inquiry also identified failures within the AFN Secretariat. The committee noted that the federation lacked strict age-verification procedures, had no linked data from previous competitions, and operated without a reliable athlete database.
Many entries were handled manually, creating loopholes for manipulation. As a result, the Secretariat is to be publicly reprimanded and subjected to mandatory compliance training and retraining, alongside the establishment of accountability controls, audit trails, and supervisory sign-offs for age-grade registrations.
State associations were not spared. Where systemic governance failures and multiple proven age discrepancies were discovered, the panel recommended fines of ₦2.5 million per sanctioned state, formal public reprimands, and a twelve-month suspension from all age-grade competitions, including the Youth Games.
Before re-admission, affected states must provide evidence of strengthened age-verification controls and verified documentation procedures for all age-grade athletes.
