Overseas-Born Athletes Choose Nigeria As Home Stars Switch Allegiance

Nigeria’s athletics story is pulling in two directions at once, as top home-linked performers leave for other countries while a fresh group of overseas-born talents commits to wearing the green-white-green.

The biggest rupture came in September 2025 when sprint star Favour Ofili switched allegiance to Turkey after years of frustration with Nigerian athletics administration. Ofili, Nigeria’s national record holder in the women’s 200m, had endured another Olympic registration setback after missing out on the women’s 100m at Paris 2024. She said “multiple negligence” drove her decision. The Athletics Federation of Nigeria confirmed in August that her switch had gone through, despite reported efforts by the National Sports Commission to stop her from appearing for Turkey at Los Angeles 2028.

In February 2026, another major sprint name, Favour Ashe, also moved toward an exit route. Ashe, Nigeria’s seventh-fastest man in history at 9.94 seconds, reportedly applied to represent Qatar. He cited “substandard track facilities” and a lack of “human feeling” from officials during the 2025 National Sports Festival. Although he had already trained for months in Doha and described the setup there as “more affable,” The PUNCH reported that he had not yet completed a formal allegiance switch at the time.

Sunday Akintan has already completed that path. Now competing as Saeed Salam for Qatar, the 60m indoor specialist recently ran 6.48s. His move fits Qatar’s long-running strategy of building relay and sprint depth by recruiting elite speed talent with Nigerian roots.

The exits are not only in the short sprints. Quarter-miler Emmanuel Bamidele, the 2023 NCAA champion, completed his transfer to the United Arab Emirates in August 2025. After earlier links with both Nigerian and Qatari options, Bamidele has since debuted for the UAE in Diamond League competition.

Yet while these losses have raised concern, Nigeria has also gained ground through transfers in the opposite direction. Jami Schlueter, born in the UK to a German father and a Nigerian mother, became eligible for Nigeria in November 2025. He made an immediate impact in February 2026 by setting a new Nigerian heptathlon record of 5,871 points, a mark that placed him in world-class territory and revived attention around combined events.

On the women’s sprint side, Ufodioma, described as a “Naijamerican” prospect, completed her nationality transfer in May 2025 and has already posted 22.54s in the 200m while competing for East Carolina in the NCAA. Her arrival is viewed as a major reinforcement for Nigeria’s sprint programme after Ofili’s departure.

Nigeria has also picked up powerful additions in the throws. Oji, a former USA U-20 champion from 2025, made her Nigerian debut in February 2026 at the Tiger Paw Invitational in Clemson and broke the Nigerian U-20 shot put record with 17.74m, finishing second. Before her switch, she had already thrown 18.45m, a distance beyond the standing African senior record.

Oladipo, a former Great Britain finalist at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and UK discus champion in 2024, switched to Nigeria in August 2025. She won the national shot put title immediately after clearance and is expected to face Great Britain at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games in July.

Together, these moves show both a warning and an opportunity for Nigerian athletics. Administrative failures are still pushing proven talent away, but stronger integration of diaspora athletes is also giving the country new medal pathways across sprints, multi-events and throws.