Anti-doping: Ministry’s stricter measures, increased testings earn Nigeria AIU commendation

Nigerian athletes get set to compete at an event. The country’s Sports Ministry’s insistence on stricter anti-doping measures has earned Nigeria the commendation of the Athletics Integrity Unit.

The insistence of the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development on stricter anti-doping measures and the increase in the number of tests carried out by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) has earned Nigeria the commendation of the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU).

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) is the special unit created by the international athletics body, World Athletics to oversee all issues relating to doping control among its members.

Nigeria is placed in Category A which is the lowest ranking of Federations and the athletes from countries in this category must have at least three (3) Out-of-Competition Testings (OCTs), each test three (3) weeks apart within the 10 months leading to a major International event like the Olympic Games and the World Championships.

At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, ten out Nigeria’s twenty three athletes were barred from competing owing to their failure to meet this AIU requirement (Rule 15 of AIU framework) that came into force in January 2019.

However, all 25 Nigerian athletes registered for the ongoing 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, United States of America were cleared to participate having met the requirement.

Also, from a meagre 26 tests conducted on Nigerian athletes in 2021, 157 tests have already been done in 2022.

In commending Nigeria, David Howman, chairman of the AIU board said he was pleased to see significant improvements in the efforts to clean up the sport.

“I particularly commend the Nigerian team. It is amazing what can be achieved when the domestic