Nesiama Expects Bright Future

Athletics Federation of Nigeria technical director, Navy Commodore Omatsheye Nesiama is optimistic the center will turn around Nigeria athletics when it becomes operational.

Nesiama said the next two years will be crucial for development and hopefully at the next Olympics there will be no sad tales to tell of the country’s athletics.

“With the High Performance centre starting soon, we are looking forward to rapid development of athletics in Nigeria. It has been approved by the IAAF and we are only putting things together to have it take off as soon as possible.

“As you know, the centre encompasses all aspects of athletics development. Local and international coaches will be on hand to train our athletes,” said Nesiama.

He submitted that the AFN is putting every machinery in place to start the developmental programme. This include performance based training meant for athletes who are already matured and grassroots development, which will see coaches scout for young talents that will be groomed to international standards.

“Within the next two years, we hope to see a remarkable improvement in Nigerian athletics. Some of the athletes we took to the Olympics are under 26 and we hope to give them all the necessary support and training to get them up to world standards performers,” Nesiama added.