Okagbare before the 4x200m final where Nigeria won GOLD
Okagbare contemplative at the start-line of the 4x200m World Relay Finals just before leading Nigeria to GOLD

In the past year, the trend of recruiting foreign athletes to represent Nigeria at international competitions has raised a lot of dust. The issue has been a subject of discourse amongst stakeholders of the sport, with the home-based athletes left wondering where they went wrong.

However, against the backdrop of Nigeria’s dismal performance at the recently concluded IAAF World Relays in the Bahamas where the country went with a depleted team that was hurriedly put together, the nation’s No.1 athlete, Blessing Okagbare can no longer hold back and has lent her voice to decry a situation where athletes with questionable heritage are being given an edge at the expense of full-blooded Nigerians who have been left in the lurch.

She took to Social Media platform, Facebook to air her views: “Those hoping for a change in Nigerian Track and Field, should not just wait but also pray. Honestly, I have been so calm about these people killing our grassroots section/home based athletes with their recruiting of athletes from other countries instead of building the great talents that we have. What a show of shame the administration has become.

“They sit down, criticize the athletes back home that they are not improving or doing enough to be at the top, yet they don’t do anything to support them, rate their recruits above the great talent that the country has, paying money and rent to athletes who have not even shown up at our Nigerian Trials just to look good. Enough is enough with the short cuts to success because, our nation and athletes are so better than this”, she vented.

The country had a below-par performance at the 2015 Penn Relays, which was meant to serve as a rehearsal for the World Relays a week later, and the situation was no different in the Bahamas, except for the surprise GOLD won by the 4x200m women’s team which comprised of Okagbare, Regina George, Dominique Duncan and Christy Udoh.

There have been insinuations that the team was put together by the athletes themselves, having decided to take matters into their own hands. The women’s 4x100m finished in 7th place but made the cut for qualification for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. Nigeria did not start in the men’s 4x100m event due to the unavailability of athletes like Ogho-Oghene Egwero who couldn’t make it to Bahamas due to shoddy traveling arrangements.

The country placed 4th and 7th respectively in the women and men’s 4x400m races in the heats and did not even make the finals, which was a far cry from what was experienced last year as it will be recalled that the women’s team won Bronze behind the US and Jamaica, which incidentally, was the country’s only medal at the competition.

Despite the outcry that has trailed the recruitment of these foreign athletes, there is nothing to suggest that the trend will be coming to a halt anytime soon. Competing for Nigeria at the Penn Relays in the men’s 4x400m was another ‘new’ athlete, LeJerald Betters, who is still listed on the IAAF website as an American athlete.

It is commendable that Okagbare has decided to speak out at a time when the morale of the home-based athletes is at an all-time low, following the lack of support and motivation from the federation and country as a whole. The only source of meaningful competition for athletes on the domestic scene, the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) Golden League, which was initially slated to hold this weekend, has been postponed until further notice, making an already bad situation worse.

As Nigeria’s most outstanding athlete for some years now, Okagbare’s voice may be the much-needed impetus to put paid to the foreign invasion of our Track and Field!

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Yemi Galadima is a Senior Sportswriter and Editor at Making of Champions. She has a bias for Athletics and was previously a Sports Reporter at the National Mirror, where she hosted a weekly column ‘On the Track with Yemi Olus’ for over two years. A self-acclaimed ‘athletics junkie’, she has covered national and international events live, such as the African Athletics Championships, African Games, Olympics and World Athletics Championships. She also freelances for World Athletics.

6 COMMENTS

  1. Wait guys, these are African Americans….they are full blooded Africans and Nigerians. IF they choose to run for Nigeria, LET THEM RUN !!!! Haba. If “Full blooded” Nigerians, as you call them, cannot run as fast as these “Nigerian Americans” or “African Americans”, then it is good they do not represent us. Capish!! Please leave our brothers in America to represent us cos when they win, they make us proud….and they TRULY and SINCERELY want to represent Nigeria. Please leave them alone!!!!

    • @ ernest ,, i don’t think that is the context in which blessing is speaking, The Nigerian authorities want ready made athletes and are ready to spend even more on them instead of grooming better athletes here at home. “They don’t want to work but want to eat” they are all looking for shortcuts to victory. This is because of the very corrupt nature of our country. If you were an athlete you will understand…..This is the reason Nigeria imports even toothpick. I believe we have people who can beat the like of usain bolt,mo farah etc.

      • Well Said Biello. They are simply looking for shortcuts when what we need for future continuous success is a structure for developing our athletes at home.

        Also, IMO these athletes that are being recruited are not even world class standard … just because they are better than our local (un-sponsored) athletes doesnt make them good… if they wanna recruit thenn they should recruit sensibly… very good athletes not these ones that are still in the shadow of blessing okagbare. mschew!

  2. I have no grouse with “Americans” or any other “Nationality” sourced Athlete who has any traceable roots of any sort with Nigeria representing Nigeria… if their ancestors had not been ripped away in the first place, they wouldn’t be representing those countries either… and don’t get me started on the multitude of Nigeria blooded talent competing for every “first world country” in the world…
    HOWEVER…..
    the officials who think they can short change the nation with shoddy haphazard “shot in the arm” arrangements and logistics control should be called to order… and any “full blooded” {basically you should say home grown talent} that has been supported with ample structured training, equipment, training gear, accommodation, and medical recovery and relaxation should make the teams of their own merit undoubtedly, if the mentioned assistance is not in place then the athletics federation should be called to account now …
    ALSO….
    private and multi national parastatals MUST be made to ASSIST our teams’ preparations on the long term and not just some shoddy miserly spur of the moment free publicity stunts “donations and gifts”…. e. o . d

  3. It takes more than being a mercenary to represent a country in athletics. Athletics takes time and dedication…and if you are doing it for a country, it means that you truly love that country. So the blood sweat and tears that these Nigerian Americans put in just to represent Nigeria and do well, means that they love Nigeria and it is fine by me and most Nigerians.
    I agree with you that in Nigeria, we can groom athletes to be better than Usain bolt…so guess what, we should go ahead and do it and stop complaining about “foreign” athletes representing Nigeria, Also, it is not about corruption because most countries do it. After all isn’t Francis Obikwelu running for Portugal?

    We should groom Nigerians to be the best in the world regardless of whatever we think the Nigerian Athletics Federation is doing or who wants to run for Nigeria. So let us stop complaining and welcome anyone who chooses to wear the Green and white jersey to represent Nigeria in athletics.

    One Love.

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