Nigeria: Athletics Will Bounce Back - Odogwu-Nwajei
Daily Champion (Lagos)
October 19, 2006
Posted to the web October 19, 2006
Ben Efe
Lagos
Athletics Federation of Nigeria president, Violet Odogwu-Nwajei has disagreed with insinuations that athletics is dead in Nigeria.
The former Nigerian international said 2007 will see resurgence of athletics activities in the country as the AFN board has done a lot of underground work to guarantee competitions and youth development progames in the years to come.
"A lot of people have written off athletics, but for goodness sake, it was only on May 10 2006 that we took over and you know very well that no cooperate organization will change their budget in the middle of the season.
"While some people were being negative in their comments, we have been working and I can tell you that right from January 2007 there would be activities till the end of the season.
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“We would be focusing on youth development, because that is the only way to discover and bring up young and promising athletes,” Odogwu-Nwajei said.
She added that the federation has been in dire straights as there was no funds coming in and as was the case in previous dispensations.
"I can tell you that right from the beginning of the year till now, we have only received N82, 000 and we have lots of over heads. I have been practically running the federation with my personal funds and I do not have any regrets about it, rather I am more than determined to succeed in the task Nigeria has given to me.