Former President of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Dan Ngerem, and former Head Coach of the body, Seigha Porbeni, have expressed sadness over the Inability of the country to secure a single relay ticket to the fast-approaching 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan.

The qualification window for the Championships ended this Sunday, but there was no news about Nigeria picking a ticket in five relay events. It will be the first time since the inaugural edition of the Championships in Helsinki, in 1983, that Nigeria will fail to present a single relay team.

For the duo of Ngerem and Porbeni, the failure to qualify a single relay team to Tokyo 2025 is disappointing because Nigeria currently has some of the fastest individual athletes in the world this season, both in the sprint and 400m.

“There are usually multiple opportunities to qualify for relays, but if you are not proactive and keep waiting for government money, you may function well below expectations,” Ngerem said in his message to The Guardian.

“In my time as President of the AFN, we had to keep an eye on the board, and even when government failed us at the last minute and there were no economy seats on all airlines, I had to use my own funds to fly the athletes and their handlers in business class via Qatar Airways. That was why we were able to qualify and went on to win the only Olympic medals for Nigeria at the Athens Olympics, and indeed the only two medals by Nigeria were in relays. There are multiplicities of errors and it has been in a continuum and worsening,” Ngerem stated.

On his part, Seigha Porbeni said: “It is unbelievable that the AFN would squander a generation of some of the best sprinters Nigeria has ever had in decades in a twinkle of an eye due to arrogance, poor human managerial and administrative knowledge, as well as a complete state of lack of foresight.”

“I am really bothered like all athletics lovers because in a country where you have top women sprinters as Tima Godless, Rosemary Chukwuma, Favour Ofili, Tobi Amusa, Ella Onojiwewhvo, Patience Okon, Esther Success, and brilliant men sprinters as Kayinsola, Israel Okon, Favour Ashe, Itshekiri Osheorise, Ogazi, Ezekiel, to name just a few from our loaded pack.

“Why must the AFN always wait for its National Trials to kick-start its preparation to qualify for the relays for the World Championships? I have asked this question several times. Can you be making the same mistake year in and year out and expect a different result while using the same so-called professional technocrats and expect a different result?

“Last year, the AFN went to Togo and came back to go to Cotonou before coming to Asaba. The AFN spends huge sums of hard currencies inviting Ghana and other countries just to qualify. In all of these, our athletes are usually given peanuts,” he stated.

To correct the situation in the future, Porbeni said: “The AFN should get its best sprinters in the USA, take the few at home to join them, then start with the Penn Relays, Florida Relays, all in the United States, and then prepare for the World Relays. Nigeria not attending this year’s World Relays was a strong red light. The answer is a veritable willpower, finance, and early preparation with the right handlers. The result will surely be positive,” Porbeni stated.

Before Sunday’s expiration of qualification for Tokyo, Nigeria’s relay teams—men’s and women’s 4x100m, 4x400m, and mixed 4x400m—were not among the top 16 teams that qualified for the Championships.

The men’s and women’s 4x100m teams were in 17th place, just outside the cutoff, and could only qualify if one of the 16 teams ahead withdrew from the trip to Tokyo. The women’s 4x400m team ranked 19th, while the men’s team was in 23rd, both well outside the qualification zone and unable to benefit from any withdrawals.

The mixed 4x400m relay team is also ranked 17th, meaning Nigeria’s only hope across all five relay events hangs on other countries pulling out from the World Championships in Tokyo. (The Guardian)