By Ben Efe 16.5.2026
Nigeria so far has bagged one individual gold medal at the CAA Senior Championships in Accra Ghana and it was a cause for concern for Nigerian coaches.
Tobi Amusan’s gold in the women’s 100mh is the only individual medal Nigeria’s contingent has to behold. This was attributed to the absence of Nigerian elite athletes who are either trapped by school commitments or travel restrictions.
“We could have done better if we had a full team here,” said Yusuf Alli, former African long jump champion.
“This is Clarion call for us to build a team that is capable of doing well even if we are missing our elite athletes.
“The National Sports Commission and its Elite and Podium Performance Board are committed to seeing Nigeria Athletics bounce back and we must begin to work to getting results.”
In the men’s 100m Kanyinsola Ajayi and Israel Okon, John Caleb, Nicholas Fakorede are sprinters who can blow away the field individually and as a team, but they weren’t on ground.
“What we have here is like a team B and that’s why we have kind of struggled through the Championships.
“But remember back in the days our team B is just as good as our team A.
“We are a big nation in world athletics and so we must do all the right things to get our track and field back on track,” said the Athletics Federation of Nigeria head coach Solomon Aliyu.
Athletics Coaches Association of Nigeria president Olalekun Adebote stated that all the units of athletics development must function the way they ought to do if Nigeria were to get results no matter the strength of the team.
“We the coaches are ready to work, we have athletes waiting to be discovered.
“Nigeria has the capacity to produce two separate teams that can perform at any level.
“But if the federation is not functioning the way it should, then we haven’t started at all.”