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From Isaac Anumihe and Adline Elechi, Abuja
The National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) has called on the National Anti-Doping Centre (NAC) to focus on research, as doping all over the world has gone so deep.
The Chairman, National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC), Major General Junaidu Bindawa, made the call when he hosted the management staff of the National Anti-Doping Centre (NAC), led by its Executive Secretary, Mallam Mainasara Iloh, on a courtesy visit to the commission.
Bindawa said the call became necessary because of the scientific nature of doping and illicit drugs all over the world. It is against this background, therefore, that the centre should have a strong and functional laboratory in the country.
A statement from the Head, Press and Protocol, Emma Njoku, quoted the chairman as saying that the mandate of the centre has become very vital if the country must achieve sanity in sporting activities.
In a remark, the Executive Secretary of NAC, Iloh, said in 1999, the Federal Government, because of the flow of money involved in sporting activities all over the world, saw the need to check illicit drugs and steroids in order to sanitise sporting events in the country.
Iloh noted the need to reduce incessant deaths among men and women arising from the use of illicit drugs and to achieve fair play in the game and ensure the use of natural talent for the integrity of the country.
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The Executive Secretary said that Nigeria was one of the first countries in Africa to be a signatory to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and it has taken Nigeria 27 years to reach this level, through 16 ministers and heads of National Sports Commission (NSC), for the Anti-Doping Act to be promulgated and assented to by the president in January 2026.
He said that one of the major responsibilities of the centre is to ensure that athletes and sportsmen and women are deterred from the use of drugs and prohibited substances, to educate and inform them on the dangers of doping, and also to test each and every person participating in sports at whatever level in Nigeria and at global levels.
Iloh noted that Nigeria is the first country to formulate a policy on anti-doping rules and regulations which has been submitted to the World Anti-Doping Agency for vetting and final stage.
The NAC said through research, the centre is going many steps ahead of the defaulters, especially as some drugs are masked in food supplements, baby doping, weighing and blood doping, etc.
The centre, according to the Executive Secretary, has identified over 2,000 illicit and prohibited drugs and steroids.
On that note, the NSIWC boss assured the National Anti-Doping Centre (NAC) that the commission will look into the request of the centre after evaluating its activities and research strength.
