It is rare to see someone who accepts being a father, mother, brother, sister, cousin, nephew, wife, or child of these young girls, except when she is knocked down by vehicles or is used for rituals. Then, you see people coming out to claim ownership, mainly because the driver or the unsuccessful ritualist could pay money in case of death. We see and hear of psychiatric hospitals built everywhere around us while a bunch of young girls parade our streets. These people are often treated as if they are not Nigerians.
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Published 24 February 2021
In this report, EBENEZER BAJELA writes on the rising trend of some of the country’s teenage athletes indulgence in banned drugs in their quest for sporting glory
Early this month, Cameroon and Ajax goalkeeper, Andre Onana, was banned from football for a year for a doping violation by European football governing body UEFA.
The 24-year-old failed an out-of-competition drugs test in October when the banned substance furosemide was found in his urine sample.
Ajax said Onana had mistakenly taken medication prescribed for his wife while feeling unwell, with Onana also claiming innocence.
However, young athletes’ use of performance-enhancing drugs, knowingly and unknowingly, has become a global and worrisome issue.
Tuesday, 15 December 2020
The Commonwealth Games Federation has introduced quota-reduction penalties in weightlifting for the first time in its qualification rules for Birmingham 2022.
Every doping violation during the qualifying period will be punished by the loss of one place from the maximum team size of 16, which is split equally between men and women to match the number of medal events.
Nations could be banned outright if they have more than three violations during a year - which is unlikely given the generally clean record in the sport of Commonwealth countries.
Those with the worst doping records in recent years are India, Malaysia and Nigeria.