By Gracious Akujobi President of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Solomon Ogba on Tuesday in Abuja unveiled the Federation’s Performance Director, Eric Campbell.
During the unveiling ceremony, Ogba says setting up a high performance system was necessary because pressure will be off the AFN, adding that budgetary provisions will be made specifically for the high performance system so that it could run professionally.
“We agreed with the Sports Minister that High Performance System should be put in place and to get the coaches who will do the job because if we want to align with the world trend we have to do what people are doing now.
“If it meant going outside the shores of Nigeria to get a good performance director like we have done so be it. The bottom line is doing something and doing it well because nobody is going to lower the standard for us when our athletes are running” he stated.
Continuing, “There is a difference between a coach and a performance coach. The performance coach must have some blend of sports science and coaching.
“That is how the sports have moved, that is the direction it has taken. One could be a good coach but once you lack the component of sports science it will affect that coach tremendously”.
The AFN President also inaugurated the eleven-man AFN Technical Committee members who he says can help revive the sport.
“The Technical committee is the engine room of the AFN. I believe these members can take us to the height we desire and improve our world ranking”.
He expressed delight that Nigeria is now ranked 19th in the world and 3rd in Africa, feat achieved by his board.
Ogba sounded a note of warning to all athletes that henceforth, any one of them who is not registered with AFN will not compete in any of its championships, saying “AFN is committed to doing things well going forward as we want to bring back that athletics culture to Nigeria”. AFN also released its programme of activities for the year 2014.
