It was a wonderful weekend for Nigeria after athletes Tobi Amusan and Ese Brume put the country on the global map at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon, USA.
Tobi Amusan became Nigeria’s first ever world champion after a record-breaking sprint saw her leap over the hurdles and get gold in the 100m hurdles event.
Ese Brume also produced her biggest jump of the year to win silver in Oregon, USA to become the first African athlete to win two long jump medals at the World Championships.
The quartet of Favour Ofili, Rosemary Chukwuma, Grace Nwokocha and Joy Udo-Gabriel also broke the 30-year-old African record of 42.39secs in the women’s 4x100m relay set by Christy Opara-Thompson, Beatrice Otondu, Faith Idehen and Mary Onyali-Omagbemi at the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992. They ran a new 42.22secs to finish in fourth position behind USA, who beat Jamaica and Germany to take the gold.
However, Ofili’s vest quickly caught the eye as the country’s name on her strip was spelt ‘NIGERA’ instead of ‘NIGERIA.’
Nigerians took to Twitter to express their displeasure at the wrongly spelt name.
Steward Godwin wrote, “Which one is “NIGERA” again na? Shirt designer, you had just one job, just one!”
“What in God’s name is this, How come Nigeria’s kit at the World Athletics Championship bears “NIGERA”. A country with administrators that doesn’t even care abt integrity,” @iamsirdeli commented.
Ayo-Ben-Niji wrote, “Which country is NIGERA or it is just one of our many carelessness that have resulted to this?”
Another user, @mr_nalie queried Nike and the Sports Minister, Sunday Dare, “Is it that Nike made this kit for us to wear at a world championship then spelt Nigeria wrongly or Sunday Dare hired our brothers from Aba? Does it even mean the man in charge still insisted the athlete wore “NIGERA” after seeing the error. What a nation!!!”
However, in response to the outburst, the Secretary-General, Athletics Federation of Nigeria Secretary General, Adisa Beyioku, said, “It is really disheartening to know that a few Nigerians could shift their focus from the incredible feats our athletes performed in Oregon, which attracted commendation from the President, Muhammadu Buhari, to a factory error made by giant sportswear and equipment company, NIKE, and which affected just the vest Ofili wore at the championships.”
