Julius OkorieNigerian Sprinter, Favour Ofili, is to be compensated with N8 million in line with recommendation of an investigative panel following her exclusion from the 100m event at the 2024 Olympics in France.
Ofili, who was one of the hopefuls for Nigeria in the event was left out of the master list with officials of the AFN, and NOC trading blames as to who was responsible for the blunder.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelTeam Nigeria eventually finished the Olympics without a medal. Following the outrage, the then Minister of Sports, Senator John Enoh, set up an investigative panel investigate the issue, vowing to dish out punishment against those founding guilty.
The Committee, chaired by Mumini Alao, submitted its findings and recommendations in a report presented on October 22.
According to the document, “conflicting evidence” showed that the omission of Ofili’s name “is traceable to any one of the following organisations: Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), World Athletics (WA) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC).”
The report specifically criticised the Secretary General of AFN, Rita Mosindi, for “negligence in her duty” by failing to properly communicate Ofili’s event status to the Ministry of Sports Development and the NOC.
It also noted that AFN Technical Director, Samuel Onikeku, displayed “poor judgment” by not promptly addressing the rumour of Ofili’s non-registration, suggesting the situation might have been averted had he acted sooner.
READ ALSO :Nigerians Hail Favour Ofili Despite 200m Medal Miss
As part of the committee’s recommendations, it urged penalties for the responsible officials. It also suggested that AFN compensate Ofili with N8 million for the “disappointment and distress” caused by her exclusion from the event.
The report of the panel, which has been handed over to the Chairman of the newly re-activated National Sports Commission (NSC) Shehu Dikko awaits implementation.
Recall that former Minister of Sports, John Enoh, has been redeployed to the Ministry of Trade and Investment.
At the end of the Olympics, many called for investigation into the blunder and insisted that bringing the officers responsible to book is the only way to avoid are-occurrence. With the return of National Sports Commission, following the scrapping of the Ministry of Sports, many believe it is time to ensure that only core professionals in the sports industry run the show, a departure from the past where civil servants take charge, using their own time table while ignoring internationally agreed method of doing things.
Julius Okorie is Chief Sports and Entertainment Correspondent for Prime Business Africa. He began his journalism career with the Champion Newspaper and Sporting Champion and later moved on to Daily Independent and the Nation Newspapers. Okorie joined Prime Business Africa in 2024 bringing on board 20 years of experience in writing investigative news on Sports and Entertainment. His well researched and highly informative articles on Sports Business and general entertainment are followed by a wide range of audience.
