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The duo of immediate Sports Minister Barr. Solomon Dalung and current Minister Mr Sunday Dare may have disagreed in recent times over certain issues related with Sports administration in Nigeria, but both of them have vehemently agreed on how the Overpaid $135,000 IAAF Funds went about, exonerating the Ministry from speculations which suggested that Sports Ministry was indicted.
The issue of the overpaid $135,000 IAAF Funds which caused furor on the media during the reign of Nigeria’s former Sports Minister Solomon Dalung between 2017 to 2019 could be said to have temporarily come to rest following investigations which Sports Intelligence Magazine made.
Recall that when the issue heated up and the then IAAF now World Athletics threatened Nigeria with a ban , former Sports Minister Solomon Dalung attacked the International body accusing them of dragging the image of Nigeria to the mud without contacting him.
His response further gave room for suspicion as there were heavy speculations suggesting that the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development were in custody of the said sum and have decided to hit back at the International body in their bid to protect their interest.
Media Reports Indicts Sports Ministry
While the issue of the overpaid $135,000 funds paid to the AFN continued, the Nigerian media gave their own account of the story which suggested that the Sports Ministry had a hand in the shady transaction bringing the image of Nigeria to disrepute. On May 14, 2019 Newsbreak published a story titled Return Overpaid $135,000 In Two Weeks Or Face Sanctions, IAAF Warns AFN. Paragraph 7of the publication stated that:
The IAAF lamented that despite assurances by the AFN on June 28, 2018, that the Ministry of Sports was ready to refund 50 per cent of the overpaid amount and a subsequent meeting with Solomon Dalung the Sports Minister, in Asaba, the Delta State capital, in August 2018, the money had yet to be repaid.
The Guardian in a publication dated May 21, 2019 titled EFCC set to probe ministry over IAAF’s ‘missing’ $135,000, suggested the sports Ministry are a party to the said sum with paragraphs 1 and 2 stating as follows:
After several months of ‘silence,’ the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is set to launch an investigation into the ‘disappearance’ of $135,000, which the world athletics governing body, IAAF mistakenly paid into the Treasury Single Account (TSA) of the Sports Ministry two years ago.
The amount was paid by IAAF as part of its $15,000 annual grant to member federations for the year 2017. But instead of the $15,000, the IAAF mistakenly paid $150, 000 into the Sports Ministry’s TSA. The transaction allegedly took place at a time when the boards of the various sports federations were dissolved.
On May 23, 2019, Vanguard came up with an online publication titled IAAF missing grants: AFN president faces sack. The publication gave an idea that the said money was shared by some members of the AFN with the Permanent Secretary of the Sports Ministry giving the AFN an ultimatum to refund the money. Paragraph 5 of the publication stated that:
“It is an embarrassment to this country what has been going on in the AFN. Those who have shared the money must have to refund it or they should just honourably resign from the board,” a top sports ministry official confirmed yesterday.
The above publication by Vanguard seemed to have exonerated the Sports Ministry, but earlier publication by The Guardian which stated that the money was paid into the TSA Account of the Sports Ministry and the publication by Newsbreak stating that the Sports Ministry had agreed to refund 50 per cent also did not exonerate the Ministry. Why should the Sports Ministry agree to refund 50 per cent of monies it did not spend? This probably raised further speculation, with assumptions suggesting that the Ministry was part of it.
Furthermore, on October 24, 2019, Punch came up with an online publication titled “Dare Approves Refund of Missing $135,000” the story may have confirmed that the ministry could give account of the said sum, but so much was yet to be unraveled as Sports Intelligence Magazine had earlier invoked the FOI Act, requesting to know how monies were spent and issued a publication titled: Overpaid $135,000 IAAF Fund: Sports Ministry Gets FOI ACT Request on How The Sum Was Spent.
Solomon Dalung’s Exit As Sports Minister Gives Room For Investigation
In May 2019, Solomon Dalung exited from office and there were suggestions that the need to investigate and get the records on how the Sports Ministry expended the money. On August 8,2019 this writer invoked relevant sections of the Freedom of Information Act to get a breakdown of how the Sports Ministry expended the money.
On August 15th, 2019 the Sports Ministry now under the leadership of Mr. Sunday Dare pleaded for extension of time through a reply with reference number FMYD/OFF/451/VOL 1 and signed by A.B Lere-ADAMS on behalf of the Permanent Secretary.
The Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development however delayed in complying with the provisions of the FOI Act in respect to the time stipulated for extension of time, leading to the applicant heading to court to get an Order mandating the Ministry to make available the details requested for.
On September 11, 2019 the case with suit no FHC/ABJ/CS/1054/19 dragging the Sports Ministry and the Attorney-General of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was assigned to Hon. Justice Binta Nyako and hearing date was fixed for November 28, 2019.
While the case was in court, the Sports Ministry sent a reply to the Publisher of Sports Intelligence Magazine in a letter dated October 28, 2019 with Reference No FMY%SD/108/PU/VOL.I and signed by Ramon Balogun on behalf of the Honourable Minister.
Paragraph two of the letter stated that “we have diligently perused our records but could not find therein information on a case of $135,000 Overpayment by the IAAF Spent by the Ministry”.
Covid-19 Pandemic Impedes Legal Process And Dalung Gives His Own Side
Litigation against the Attorney General and the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports development was interrupted with the outbreak of the Covid-19 in the world, leading to lockdown and staying at home by everyone and the court was also affected.
The need to get the view of former Sports Minister Solomon Dalung came up again as we needed to find out if he went away with the records of the case of the Overpaid $135,000 IAAF Fund. On October 27, 2021,about two years since after the Sports Ministry claimed it has no records of the said sum, Sports Intelligence Magazine spoke with Barr. Solomon Dalung to get his own side on whether the Sports Ministry during his tenure ever received the sum and give an idea where the records could be, he however confirmed that the records are not with the Sports Ministry. in a chat with our correspondent.
“The money was not given to the Ministry of Sports “ Dalung said in a phone chat. “The money was paid into the account of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN). “It was never in our custody and hence there is no way the Sports Ministry can give account of it, we can only give account of what was in our custody”
“The records on how the money was spent must be with the AFN”. “When the issue started, it was a very technical one and we had to intervene because it became an embarrassment to the image of Nigeria. The international federation tried to drag the image of Nigeria to the mud, hence the Sports Ministry had to come in” he concluded.
No Dispute, As Dalung And Dare Agrees On The Overpaid $135,000 IAAF Fund
Recall that in recent times, the former Sports Minister Solomon Dalung had publicly disagreed with current Minister Sunday Dare on one or two issues, leading to furor suggesting that the duo may continue to disagree. But our recent findings have confirmed that the duo agreed that the records for the Overpaid $135,000 IAAF Fund was never in the custody of the Ministry.
While the current Minister had responded to the FOI Act request saying there were no records showing of such showing that the Ministry ever received the money, the former Minister stated in the chat that the Athletics Federation of Nigeria should account for it. Hence, this absolves the Ministry of Youth and Sports development of ever spending the said sum which brought shame to the image of Nigeria.
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