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Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), first Vice President, Tafida Gadzama says athletes deserve much more than they have received from the federation.
The African and Olympic Games gold medalist is now apologising to the athletes following the non-fulfillment of promises he made to them in June 2023 following the signing of the Premium Trust Bank Sponsorship agreement with the AFN.
Gadzama had expressed his delight at the agreement and said it signalled the beginning of better days for the athletes.
“Gone are the days when athletes were paid N40, 000 as top prize money. If our road runners can be earning N1, 000,000 and N500, 000, why can’t those running on the track earn as much as N200, 000 for coming first in each leg of the Golden League and N500, 000 in the final,” Gadzama said after the signing of the agreement in June 2023. Speaking in a chat at the weekend, the AFN first vice president says he built his optimism at the time on a particular article in the contract agreement, which deals with athletes’ welfare. “One of the aims and objectives of the agreement was welfare of athletes and it was clearly stated that the broker will ‘serve as medium towards fulfilling the aforesaid aims and objectives particularly the welfare of the athletes.”
Gadzama said he never expected the level of the mismanagement of the money received from Premium Trust Bank as sponsorship fees.
“I was not happy with the N40, 000 top prize money the athletes got in the Golden League events as well as the almost inhabitable accommodations provided but thought the coming of Premium Trust Bank will change the narrative.
“I never thought over half of the money (N40m) would be used to refund the President for some of the monies he spent to sponsor the Golden League events while almost 16m naira would be borrowed from the money meant to provide competitions for the athletes while payments not connected to the sponsorship were made from the sponsorship fees.
“That was why the audit committee which I chaired recommended the president return the money because there was no agreement that he was loaning the federation the money as well as the redeployment of the Secretary General which some members of the Federation have told to ‘go and sin no more,” he said.
Gadzama stressed he and some of his colleagues on the board of AFN who once competed and won medals for Nigeria will resist all attempts to shortchange the athletes.
