The International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) has confirmed that it has received in full a payment it mistakenly lodged into the account of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN). A spokesperson for the IAAF confirmed receipt of the sixty-five thousand dollars which had been outstanding.
The Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) owed the IAAF a total of one hundred and thirty thousand dollars. The IAAF had erroneously paid the AFN one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, instead of the annual grant of fifteen thousand dollars it gives to its Member Federations.
The remaining balance has proved a bone of contention between the IAAF and authorities in Nigeria, who had made several promises to repay it. Former Sports Minister Solomon Dalung had reportedly paid half of the outstanding amount in May, shortly after the IAAF warned Nigeria would incur sanctions if it was not returned in full.
The money has been huge issue for the AFN and led to the arrest of secretary general Amaechi Akawu by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission in Nigeria last week. Akawu was detained on suspicion of misappropriation of the one hundred and thirty thousand dollars before later being released.
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