Well, that’s what seemed to have taken place at the Athletics Federations of Nigeria (AFN).
So it happened that the world athletics ruling body (IAAF), overpaid the AFN to the tune of $135,000.00, the Guardian reports. That was because instead of $15,000.00 annual grants due to member federations for the year 2017, the AFN erroneously received $150,000.00. But the honest (maybe not) people at the federation didn’t think they should have alerted the IAAF and refunded the money. Maybe they thought it was a windfall from Santa Claus or what?
And when the IAAF realised the mistake and said hey, we overpaid you, can you kindly refund the excess? The AFN says no, the money has developed wings. We can’t account for it.
Outrageous/preposterous/ludicrous/absurd/Insane? Choose your adjective.
Now, the AFN is waiting on the IAAF to come to a decision.
On the incident, the Guardian quotes the AFN Vice President, Olamide George, as saying:
“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 Guardian also reported that the AFN Technical Director, Sunday Adeleye denied that the AFN received the money.
He says: “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.”
One thing is sure, this is very shameful indeed and the EFCC should better come investigate this matter. And IAAF should make damn sure they collect the whole balance plus interest. Deplorable.
