Ado Salisu
The Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) says it will intensify efforts to discover, develop and monitor young athletics talents across the country.
Chairman of the AFN Youth Development Commission, Sule Oluyemi, stated this in an interview at the Yaba Tech Sports Complex, where he described the just-concluded Dynamic Athletics Meet as an important platform for identifying future stars.
Oluyemi commended the organisers for providing an independent platform for young athletes to compete, gain exposure and demonstrate their potential.
He said the age-group events at the competition were particularly important because they enabled talent scouts and the federation to identify promising athletes early and commence their development.
According to him, the AFN will continue to monitor athletes discovered at such competitions and work with their coaches to track their progress and provide opportunities for regular competition.
Oluyemi, who is also a coach of Team Nigeria Athletics, said the federation was adopting a structured age-group development system covering the under-13, under-15, under-17 and under-20 categories.
He explained that the system would strengthen talent identification and help address age falsification by ensuring that athletes were captured in a database from an early age.
The AFN official also urged parents and guardians to support children with an interest and talent in athletics, stressing that combining sports with education could provide significant opportunities for young Nigerians.
He noted that athletics scholarships, particularly in the United States, had enabled many Nigerian athletes to pursue higher education while developing their sporting careers.
Oluyemi disclosed that more than 150 Nigerian athletes had secured overseas scholarships within the past three years, describing the development as evidence of the growing opportunities available through athletics.
He encouraged parents to see athletics as more than a sporting activity, saying talented young athletes could use the sport to pursue academic ambitions, build careers and eventually represent Nigeria at international competitions.
“For me, mixing athletics with education is the best way to go,” Oluyemi said.