Nigeria’s seventh-fastest man in history over 100 metres, Favour Ashe, has officially transferred his international allegiance to Qatar, citing poor treatment, substandard facilities, and limited opportunities in Nigeria as key reasons for the move.

The 100m specialist, whose personal best of 9.94 seconds ranks him among Nigeria’s elite sprinters, confirmed the switch in a statement released on Monday. Ashe revealed he has been training in Qatar for the past five months and expressed optimism about contributing to a strong Qatari 4x100m relay team.

“I was not treated properly at the 2025 National Sports Festival,” Ashe said. “Those managing athletics in Nigeria showed no human feeling. Returning my career to Nigeria was a setback. I struggled to train due to substandard track facilities, and having completed my studies in the United States, I could no longer access college training facilities.”

He added: “I am very sure we will form a formidable 4x100m relay team for Qatar,” noting the surprisingly large number of young Nigerian athletes already training in the Gulf nation.

The transfer has not yet been approved by World Athletics. Under current regulations, Ashe must observe a three-year waiting period from his last representation of Nigeria, meaning he will not be eligible to compete for Qatar until after 2027 unless an exception is granted.

Ashe’s decision follows a pattern of Nigerian track and field talents seeking better opportunities abroad amid ongoing challenges in the domestic system, including inadequate infrastructure, inconsistent funding, and administrative issues.

He joins a growing list of Nigerian athletes who have opted to represent another country. One of such is the recent switch of allegiance by another sprinter, Favour Ofili to represent Turkiye.

Not aware of switch – AFN

President of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, Tonobok Okowa, has said the body is not aware of the alleged switch of nationality by sprinter Favour Ashe from Nigeria to Qatar, noting that the AFN will begin investigating athletes’ statuses from Monday (today)

Okowa told Punch that he was just seeing the news as well

“I don’t know either. I just saw the news as well, but we will investigate that beginning tomorrow (Monday),” He said.