AIU Investigates Nigeria Over Age Manipulation of Athletes

•NSC Demands Accountability, Vows To spare Nobody

By Amaechi Agbo

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has issued Nigeria a firm deadline of 16 January 2026 to explain why 16 out of 17 athletes entered for the 2025 African U18 & U20 Championships in Abeokuta appeared with multiple and conflicting dates of birth.
The directive is straightforward:
“The Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) must provide verifiable age confirming documents, including birth certificates, passports, school records, or medical files, to establish the athletes’ true ages.
“Failure to do so will trigger a full AIU investigation into possible age manipulation, a serious violation of the Integrity Code of Conduct and World Athletics technical regulations.”
This marks the second age related scandal in less than two years under the presidency of Tonobok Okowa. The federation’s leadership continues to face scrutiny, with Secretary General Israel Inwang accused of failing to enforce procedural discipline, and Technical Director Gabriel Okon criticized for prioritizing travel over compliance and governance.
A previous scandal unfolded under former technical director Samuel Onikeku, and the recurrence of these infractions suggests a deep-rooted culture of administrative negligence within Nigerian athletics.
The AIU’s findings indicate systematic discrepancies, far beyond clerical mistakes, raising suspicion of intentional age alterations aimed at inserting overage athletes into age-group competitions.
The global integrity body stressed that such practices damage the credibility of competition, erode trust in Nigerian athletics, and undermine the honesty standards required of all member federations.
If the AFN fails to supply credible and contemporaneous documents before the January deadline, Nigeria risks yet another damaging investigation, one that would further stain the federation’s reputation and cast doubt on the legitimacy of its junior athletes.
…NSC Demands Accountability, Vows To spare Nobody
The National Sports Commission, NSC, has called for thorough accountability from the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, AFN, over the Athletics Integrity Unit’s ( AIU ) age discrepancy concerns of some Nigeria young athletes.
The AIU of World Athletics has written to Nigeria seeking clarification on age discrepancies linked to a number of Nigerian young athletes that competed at the CAA U18/U20 Championship in Abeokuta.
Chairman of the National Sports Commission, Mallam Shehu Dikko, has expressed displeasure with the AFN and maintained that heads will roll if anybody is found culpable.
“ At a time we are giving no place to age cheat in our Sports , this will not be swept under the carpet I can assure Nigerians. We are determined to get it right from our age grade competitions”.
The Director General of the NSC, Hon. Bukola Olopade, said the AFN must put its house in order and display true competence and diligence to restore confidence and prevent international embarrassment.
Rising from a meeting with top officials of the AFN including its Technical Director, Gabriel Okon, and National coaches, the DG insisted that officials must start paying for their incompetence especially now that the Commission is clamping down on age cheating in Nigerian Sports.
“ We are aware of the query from AIU of World Athletics and for us at the National Sports Commission, this does not paint the AFN in good light and as a Commission we will not hesitate to come out hard on any official and administrator who we find culpable for this embarrassment”.
“ We want to make it clear again to all our Sport Federations, coaches and administrators that our resolution at the last Council of Sports meeting in Calabar to clamp down on age issues will not be compromised regardless of who is involved”.
“Youth competitions are for developmental purposes, therefore the win at all cost syndrome must stop and the NSC needs the collaboration of every stakeholder to put this to an end in our Sports”.
The NSC has therefore called on the AFN to swiftly be on top of the AIU issue to clear the country’s name from further embarrassment.
Meanwhile the NSC has dropped two athletes from Team Nigeria camp preparing for the Africa youth Games expected to start this week in Angola, over age discrepancies.