Sports
‘Nigeria Struggles To Handle Talents’
Bahraini athlete, Abbas Abubakar Abbas was just 16 years old when he was scouted to swap allegiances from Nigeria, the country of his birth.
Now he is one of four Nigeria-born sprinters recruited on unique security force salary schemes who are targeting 4x400m mixed relay gold for Bahrain at next year’s postponed Olympics.
The 24-year-old, who won bronze at last year’s World Athletics Championships in the mixed relay event, has no regrets about his swap.
“In Nigeria we have many talents but we don’t know how to handle them,” he told Tidesports source.
“Of all the athletes I used to run with, I only know one in Nigeria who is still in the sport [Orukpe Erayokan]. The difference in Bahrain is the support.”
Erayokan was in demand himself in 2012 when he had just beaten Abbas at Nigeria’s National Sports Festival.
“The official for Bahrain came to my coach, but I didn’t have a phone at the time, so I didn’t know anything about it until a year later,” says Nigeria’s former national 400m champion.
“Sometimes I cry, because I know, I wish, I would have followed. In Nigeria, I often struggled to pay for the restroom after training.”
He is now attempting to keep his career on track in the UK after competing for Nigeria at the Rio Olympics,
Unlike Erayokan the young Abbas and his family talked to the officials from Bahrain after competing at the festival which is Nigeria’s premier athletics meet.
Abbas’s father was persuaded that a prodigious talent like his son’s would be wasted in Nigeria as he was given a brand new pair of running spikes and told about the kind of life awaiting for him in Bahrain.
“My father asked, ‘what about his career after sport?’ They [the representatives] said ‘Don’t worry, he will never regret it. When you finish running you can say, ‘I’m ready to go to the army’,” Abbas told our source.
“Most of the athletes from other countries here have two salaries. You have a choice: some are army; some are police. Most athletes are youths when they come to Bahrain.
“If you are running good you can make a lot of money from the federation. Even if you don’t, the money will be enough to take care of you, your family, even some people you know.”
Abbas insists he ‘always wanted to be a soldier’ and the money he has earned since moving to Bahrain has enabled his father to quit his job working for an electricity company.
The National Sports Commission (NSC) says it will no longer pay athletes training grants in foreign currency.
The development came after sprinter, Kayinsola Ajayi, alleged foul play regarding the disbursement of training grants by the Commission.
Head of NSC’s Elite Athletes Development and Podium Board, Yusuf Alli, told Tidesports source on Friday that it was wrong of Ajayi to rubbish the good intention of the NSC, saying: “I have been in athletics for over 40 years now, and this current NSC Board, led by Mallam Shehu Dikko and Bukola Olopade, has done what others could not do. So far, the NSC has spent over N200 million in payment of training grants for athletes ahead the 2026 Commonwealth Games and preparation for Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.”
The NSC sourced the money from the private sector. It has never happened before. “I expected the athletes to encourage the NSC so that it can do more instead of raising unnecessary alarm and making allegations that is capable of discouraging them (NSC) and even the sponsors. It takes good initiative and trust for sports administrators in Nigeria to convince sponsors to donate money for welfare of athletes,” he said.
Speaking further, Alli, whose long jump record of 8.27m set in 1989 (35 years ago) is still unbroken, said: “We have decided that henceforth, all payment of training grants will be in Naira. No more payment of grants in U.S. dollars. We are Nigerians, and everyone knows that the exchange rate is not stable. As at the time Ajayi got his money, the rate of dollars to Naira may have changed
“I expected him to make a call either to myself or anybody in the Elite Board, or even the NSC to find out what happened instead of resorting to such allegation.
“If we make payment in Naira, any athlete who wants to convert his or her money to any foreign currency can tell their people back home to do so. I am sure this will solve the problem. If anybody wants to know how much he is entitled to, he must first of all find out the category that he or she belongs to.”
Alli disclosed that coaches, who train the athletes would soon get their grant. “They train the athletes, and the NSC feel is it not proper to leave them out in payment of grants. We have compiled their names, and very soon, the coaches would get their money,” Alli stated.
The chairman of the Nigeria Premier Football League, Gbenga Elegbeleye, has directed that a minute’s silence be observed before kick-off at all Matchday 30 fixtures this weekend in honour of former Green Eagles captain Henry Nwosu, following the death of the former midfielder at the age of 62.
In a statement made available to Tidesports source on Saturday, the league body confirmed that the tribute would be held across all matches to recognise the contribution of the former international to Nigerian football.
Elegbeleye described Nwosu’s passing as both a personal loss and a painful moment for the country’s club football community.
Nwosu, who was the youngest member of Nigeria’s squad that won the 1980 African Cup of Nations, died in the early hours of Saturday at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital in Ikeja after a brief illness.
The former midfielder had reportedly spent several days in hospital receiving intensive care before his death.
Elegbeleye said the late footballer was more than a colleague within the sport, describing him as someone with whom he had maintained a long-standing personal relationship dating back to his time at the National Sports Commission.
He said the former national team star had remained supportive of him in various moments of his career, including when he was nominated for the Pitch Football Awards.
Reflecting on Nwosu’s legacy, the NPFL chairman said the news represented the loss of a major figure in Nigerian football, noting that the former midfielder distinguished himself not only at club level but also later contributed to the development of the domestic game as a coach.
Elegbeleye said the death of the former international was “the death of a true ambassador of the domestic and national team football because he not only made his mark as a player in league clubs, but he also coached some of the league clubs.”
He added that death remained a submission to the will of God and prayed for the repose of Nwosu’s soul while urging strength for his family as they mourn the loss of their loved one.
Earlier confirmation of the former midfielder’s death came from former Nigeria international Segun Odegbami, who revealed that Nwosu died after spending five days in hospital. Odegbami said the former player passed away at about four o’clock in the morning at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, where he had been receiving treatment in intensive care.
“It is with deep pain in my heart that I have to be the conveyor of the news of the death of Henry Nwosu MON,” Odegbami said.
“After five days in hospital battling for his life, the one I call ‘Youngest Millionaire’ passed on at four o’clock this morning at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, Lagos, where he had been in intensive care since Wednesday. May he rest peacefully with our Creator in heaven”.
At the club level, the former international spent most of his career in Nigeria, starring for New Nigeria Bank FC of Benin City and African Continental Bank FC of Lagos during a period when both sides were among the dominant forces in domestic football. His performances later earned him moves abroad, where he also played for ASEC Mimosas of Ivory Coast and Racing FC Bafoussam of Cameroon.
