World’s athletics body IAAF is asking that the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) return $150,000 paid to it by mistake, Guardian reports.
The body pays $15,000 annually to member federations, but for the year 2017, $150,000 was mistakenly paid to AFN.
IAAF accountants reportedly discovered the error and asked that the sum be returned, and therein lies the trouble: the money is nowhere to be found.
AFN Vice President, Olamide George, speaking to Guardian, said the board of the AFN has no knowledge of any sum received.
The sum was probably received by the past administration, he said, or by the AFN secretary who was installed by sports minister Solomon Dalung. He said:
I think the money came just when we were taking over from the past administration.
But the truth is that it is only the AFN secretary who knows how he received the IAAF money.
If the money was paid into AFN account, it could have gone through the Treasury Single Account (TSA). I am sure the secretary used his personal account to collect the money from IAAF, which I think is wrong.
The secretary was transferred from AFN before, but the sports minister (Solomon Dalung) brought him back. They should tell Nigerians what happened to the IAAF money.
I cannot be part of AFN board and all sorts of things are happening behind the scene. We must not fold our hands until IAAF sanctions Nigeria because of this issue.
The AFN Technical Director, Sunday Adeleye, also spoke with Guardian, saying the sum has not been paid into the AFN account. He said:
I can tell you categorically that since we came on board, no single money has been paid into the AFN account.
So, it will be difficult for me to speak on this IAAF $150,000 grants.